


Legacy of Power

by hearden



Series: Legacy of Power [1]
Category: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers, Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Slow Burn, Teenagers with Attitude AND Angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-13
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2018-10-17 04:55:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 219,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10586886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hearden/pseuds/hearden
Summary: When a team of superheroes from Angel Grove calling themselves the Power Rangers make national news for defeating the evil sorceress Rita Repulsa, their namesake predecessors pause their habitual daily lives to answer the call of the extraordinary once more. Kimberly Hart and Tommy Oliver return to their hometown to find five teenagers who share their names, their powers, their mentor, even their old nemesis -- but not their lives. Old meets new as the Rangers work together to figure out what weird cosmic happening could explain all this, and on the horizon, a familiar threat looms beneath Angel Grove's surface.





	1. The Return to Angel Grove, Part I

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place about two weeks/shortly after the movie and is inspired by JDF and AJJ's cameo at the end.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kimberly Hart and Tommy Oliver pack up their lives in Reefside to investigate the case of five familiarly-colored Power Rangers.

**September 2016 - Reefside, California**

Kimberly wakes up to the dull beeping of her alarm clock, sighing softly and pressing her face deeper into her pillow. Without looking, she reaches out and fumbles around blindly for the clock, jabbing it silent with the palm of her hand. Waking up on a high school schedule makes her feel like she’s in… high school again. Of course, she’s had to train through worse, but still. It’s never going to get old.

“Tommy,” she mumbles into her pillow, “Get up.” Kimberly rolls over and unceremoniously smacks her husband in the chest, shaking him for good measure. “The children of Reefside High need you, and I need my coffee.” Untangling herself from the sheets (and from Tommy’s arm), she gets out of bed and stretches, breathing in the new morning air.

She wakes on Tommy’s schedule but usually copes with it better than he does. It’s a mixture of having to deal with practice, Ranger duties, and an early job throughout her life; Tommy’s had the same, but somehow, he’s always the one late, even when she sets his alarm earlier just to avoid a problem.

They both get dressed in the slow silence of the early morning, save for the occasional yawn and “excuse me” as they brush past each other in front of the closet and in the bathroom. Kimberly likes to hog the sink first -- and Tommy lets her, even if that means she spends the most time in the bathroom doing her make-up and fussing with her hair -- while her husband leans against the doorframe and watches her, a fond smile on his face.

“Your hair looks nice,” he comments, and she laughs, a beautiful, musical sound to his ears.

“ _Please_ , I just woke up,” she says, rolling her eyes as she grabs her toothbrush from the counter. And, then, softer, slightly blushing, “You always say that.”

Tommy wraps his arms around her waist from behind and presses a kiss to her neck, making her giggle, “And I always mean it.”

 

* * *

 

They find out the news over breakfast and coffee. As a rule of thumb, to savor the soft, gentle moments they have together before starting their days, there’s no cell phone usage (save for emergencies) under the Oliver roof until _after_ they’ve started eating breakfast, which means a good hour-and-a-half of showering, getting ready, making coffee, and actually sitting down in the kitchen passed before Tommy checked his phone and saw all the messages he’d missed since he woke up.

“Must be important,” Kimberly says, raising her eyebrows as she bites a piece of pancake off of her fork, “It was going off like crazy while you were showering.”

“Yeah… Ethan texted me a couple dozen times,” Tommy replies, frowning at his phone, “Out of nowhere. We haven’t really talked in awhile.”

“Yeah? What’d he say?”

Kimberly goes back to poking pieces of her pancakes with her fork, expecting Tommy to respond eventually, but when he doesn’t, she looks up with growing concern.

“Tommy? Is everything okay?” Maybe it was an emergency -- she couldn’t remember if she’d met any of Ethan’s family at the wedding, but he had brought Angela. An emergency would’ve meant Ethan would’ve called, though.

Her husband says nothing, still frowning at his phone, and just places it on the table between them to where Kimberly can see the screen. On it is an article from the AG Times, and in big, bold letters as the title: _”POWER RANGERS SAVE ANGEL GROVE COASTAL SUBURBS.”_

Interest vaguely piqued, she glances at the blurry picture underneath the title, slightly nodding in appreciation of what she sees. A Megazord -- presumably, although it looks _way_ more alien than anything she’s ever seen, and she’s seen some things -- fighting… what looks like a giant monster made of gold? It looks vaguely, oddly enough, familiar, but… She can’t tell if it’s solid or liquid or an odd mix of the two from the picture alone, but there’s no face. Which still makes it pretty ugly.

“Okay, so, Power Rangers and a giant, ugly monster with no face a mother could love in Angel Grove,” Kimberly shrugs, unsure of why Tommy’s acting like it’s a big deal, “It’s Monday, and we’re married. What else?”

“There’s more.” He motions for her to scroll down and actually read the article.

Setting her fork down, Kimberly scrolls through the article with her thumb, leaning forward to catch all the words.

Masked superheroes… “Power Rangers”... Rita…

“Wait, hold on.” She scrolls back up the page and reads aloud a quote, a shiver running through her shoulders and her heart slightly jumping, “Witnesses say the woman terrorizing the town called herself ‘Rita,’ and that she called her monster…”

“Goldar,” Tommy finishes for her.

“ _Shit_.” Kimberly leans back in her chair, the color draining out of her face. “Did- what else did Ethan say?”

Tommy picks his phone up and glances over his messages again, “Just that he didn’t think it was _off_ for ‘Power Rangers’ until he saw the bit about Rita and Goldar. He remembered me mentioning them in my video diary.”

She snorts at that, forcing a smile, “At least something good came out of you keeping a _diary_.” It’s a small tease, one she wouldn’t really be making, but she’s trying to break the tension before it crushes them both.

Across from her, her husband reluctantly chuckles.

It’s not their problem; they’re in a different town, hours away from Angel Grove, and it’s a life they’ve been away from for a good few years since fighting the Armada. That was because they were _needed_ \-- they aren’t needed now. Everything’s been handled.

Except, they got rid of Rita once, and now she was back.

Kimberly reaches across the table and takes Tommy’s hand.

“What are we gonna do?”

She asks because she can, but she already sees the answer in his eyes. If Kimberly had a mirror to look at then, she knows she’d see the same answer in her eyes as well.

They’re going to Angel Grove.

 

* * *

 

The drive to Angel Grove only takes a few hours. They pack their luggage -- enough for two weeks but they say it’s for one -- into Tommy’s Jeep and hit the road with Tommy behind the wheel and Kimberly in the passenger seat, her laptop open and her phone acting as a hotspot.

They’re not moving, but for some reason, it feels like they are.

Kimberly’s Googling all she can on Angel Grove, on the town it’s become since they’ve left. It doesn’t take too much digging, surprisingly, after she searches ‘Angel Grove High School’ to find something substantial. Substantially weird, that is.

“Hey, babe… have you talked to Jason recently?”

She glances over at her husband, who shrugs in response. “No, not really. Last time was… Christmas, I think.”

“Did he, uh, say anything about being with someone new? Starting a family, having kids?”

“No… you know how he feels about that, after Trini.”

Oh, Kimberly knows. But, she just wants verbal confirmation because the words on her laptop screen make no _fucking_ sense. She clicks on the picture at the top of the article she’s reading -- a courtroom photo of a young, handsome boy with disheveled, light brown hair and soft but tired blue eyes. There’s something off about him… something she can’t put her finger on, that tickles the tip of her tongue.

“Yeah,” she says, quietly, “So… we would’ve noticed if he had a son who’d be in high school by now, right?”

Tommy’s face scrunches into confusion, and he sneaks a glance over at her laptop, hastily, but Kimberly smacks his arm. “Eyes on the _road_ , sweetie. I’ll read it aloud to you.

“Jason Scott, 17, former star quarterback of the Angel Grove Tigers, appeared in court on Monday and was put on probation for six months with a mandatory fifty hours of community service after pleading guilty to one charge of criminal trespass in the second-degree on school property and one charge of evading arrest from the police officers who showed up on the scene afterwards. Scott led officers on a brief chase through town before causing an accident on Barker Street. From security footage evidence, it was concluded that Scott did not act alone, but he refused to list any accomplices during his courtroom appearance.”

Tommy whistles lowly, his eyebrows raising in interest, “Doesn’t sound like the Jason we know. It’s a common name, though, I guess.”

“Yeah, it is.” Her response is noncommittal, just as his excuse. Kimberly clicks around on her laptop a few more times, holding her breath. There’s something here, something she doesn’t want to see, but she knows it’s coming. She passes by articles about Founder’s Day, Angel Grove’s first Krispy Kreme (“ _Tommy_ , they have a Krispy Kreme now,” she says with a pout -- even Reefside doesn’t have one yet, unfortunately, and it’s _2016_ for God’s sake), about how the Tigers are doing in regionals (which is, frankly, poorly since Jason Scott -- but not _her_ Jason Scott -- busted his leg in that car accident).

First, she finds an article about a mining accident (“We didn’t have a gold mine in Angel Grove, did we?” “You’re asking _me_ ? You lived there _way_ longer than I did, honey.”) and among the people who died, one Mr. Michael Cranston.

“Cranston.” The name sounds foreign on her tongue, now; she hasn’t said it in years and hasn’t heard it being said by its owner in even longer.

Wedged between the two articles she finds (the mining accident being long ago and Jason’s courtroom appearance being within the past month), not years ago and still fairly recent, Kimberly finds the last piece of the puzzle. The edges catch on the inside of her throat as she swallows.

“Tommy,” her voice is urgent, and she almost chokes on her words -- or maybe it’s that puzzle piece, “Stop the car -- please.” Her husband responds quickly, calmly, even with the strain in her voice, and pulls the car over to the shoulder, activating his hazard lights.

With the car stopped, Kimberly grips her laptop tighter, knuckles turning white as she lets out a hard breath, before letting go. She turns it to where Tommy can read the article, but, more importantly, so he can see the yearbook photo used under the title.

The girl in the photo is stunningly beautiful. Like the other Jason Scott, Kimberly finds something naggingly familiar, almost like home, in the girl’s long, black hair that’s been done into curls for the yearbook photo. Something familiar in her brown eyes, in the ease and radiance of her smile. There’s something sharper there, too, that Kimberly doesn’t quite relate to, but it still sends chills down her spine at how close she feels to the girl in the picture.

Tommy voices what she hasn’t had the courage to say yet, “She… kinda looks like you.”

She nods in mute agreement. Her husband's eyes move up to the other big detail on her screen.

The headline: _“ANGEL GROVE TEEN MAY FACE CHARGES FOR DISTRIBUTION OF PORNOGRAPHY.”_

Well, Kimberly definitely can’t relate to that.

She skims the article and makes up a summary for Tommy as she goes. “Kim- um… Kimberly Hart…” She pauses, trying to get ahold of her thoughts. It’s… hard, to say the least, to be reading something that she _knows_ she didn’t do but that someone she shares a name with did. “17, former cheerleader for the Angel Grove Tigers, has come under fire after she sent out a naked photo of a fellow classmate -- whose name has been withheld for privacy -- to other students at Angel Grove High. The victim’s family has not decided whether or not to press charges as of now, but regardless, Hart could possibly face being put on probation. The Angel Grove Sheriff's Department is conducting an investigation to determine if Hart acted alone.”

The air is quiet after she speaks, save for the _whoosh_ as cars pass them on the road. The wind generated from the road activity blows through Kimberly’s hair, sending it flying into her vision. Everything is utterly normal. The world is still turning.

“Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence…”

“Thrice is an trend,” Tommy finishes for her.

“Okay.” Kimberly closes her laptop, deeming all of that enough weirdness for the next couple of hours -- the rest of her life would be better, but the direction they’re heading in, there’s no chance of that. She sighs and slightly shakes her head, trying to get rid of this feeling on her shoulders, like something is hovering over her, ready to drop down on her body. Quickly, she glances up at the soft, blue sky. No pianos suspended by ropes up there. Only just the vast expanse of what is and ever could be. “Should we… should we still go?”

Beside her, Tommy reaches over and grabs her hand, fingers intertwining.

Maybe they’re meant to just leave it alone.

Tommy can see the doubt on her face, as he’s always been able to, and leans over as far as his seat belt will let him, pressing a brief kiss to the side of her head.

“How ‘bout this,” he says, settling back into his seat, “We go to Angel Grove, and if there’s nothing weird going on, then we’ll leave.”

It’s another excuse he’s making up because she knows the result, anyway. Angel Grove has always -- _always_ \-- been weird, and no matter what, they were and always will be its watchful guardians.

“Yeah, that sounds good,” she nods, shifting and sticking her laptop back into the backpack at her feet. Kimberly looks back up at the sky one more time, sighing softly. “Let’s go home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A potential movie sequel literally cannot come any faster. I am impatient, and this is what my impatience vomited out.


	2. The Return to Angel Grove, Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile, in Angel Grove, it's seemingly just another normal day for Kim Hart. At least, on the surface, that is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, MMPR!Kimberly is still Kimberly, and Reboot!Kimberly is Kim. And that's basically all the clarification needed for the whole fic. Probably.
> 
> Have some angst. The "prologue" was probably the lightest thing I have planned hehe.

**Angel Grove, California**

Mornings in Angel Grove are normally Kim’s favorite. She loves the quiet hours before things start to rile up in town (which, honestly, it’s a small town so it can’t really… get riled up). The soft hours of dawn when the docks open up for business and, then, the late, late dusk when people are turning in for the night and she can stare at the stars by her lonesome.

Truthfully, she still harbors some resentment for Angel Grove, but mornings are wonderful. She always gets up early enough to lightly work out, not breaking a sweat, shower, and have some quiet time to herself as the sun rises before heading off to school.

But, not this morning.

This morning, she doesn’t work out. She’ll save it for The Pit later in the week, even if nobody else ends up being free to go with her. (Alone is even better.) She just lays in bed after waking up, staring at the ceiling and trying every ten minutes to pep talk herself out of bed. By the time she’s _finally_ dragged herself out of bed and stepped around the pile of dirty laundry haphazardly strewn across her floor and found a suitable, clean outfit to wear, the sun has already started peeking up above the horizon.

Within the past weekend, her fashion sense has taken a subtle hit, and Kim’s sure someone else besides her has noticed. She’s quickly running out of things to wear and desperately needs to do laundry soon but… that requires work, unfortunately.

Still, Kim has a decent amount of good clothes -- and by “good,” she means makes her look good and like an attractive functioning human being -- left in her room before she has to either a) do her damn laundry or b) resort to her “Depression Pile” full of hoodies and sweatpants that she no longer wears (well, never had the reason to wear but purchased in the middle of a depressive episode years ago on impulse, regardless) at the back of her closet.

She’s tempted to go for option b, honestly.

Huffing, Kim casts a glance at her mess of a desk, and her gaze stops on the spine of her Bible poking out from underneath the folders and notebooks she’s stacked on top of it. She wants to stick to her routine, not because it’ll make her feel better, but it’ll give her some semblance of normalcy. When she inhales, though, contemplating, her chest ignites in a sharp pain, completely psychosomatic and expected.

She should sit down, clear her desk, and spend some much needed quiet time in the presence of God, especially today, especially after _yesterday_ , but she doesn’t, instead grabbing the notebooks and folders from her desk and throwing them messily into her backpack.

Her footsteps are loud and obnoxious as she takes the stairs two steps at a time, sticking the landing perfectly and in an asshole way that would’ve gotten her reprimanded by her mom. Except her mom isn’t here, and the house is eerily quiet without the usual presence of her parents. She decides, then, that her breakfast will come from school today. Sitting at the dining table alone with a soggy bowl of cereal would hurt her ego too damn much to bear.

 

* * *

 

When Kim arrives at school, her legs faintly aching and her breaths strained from running, it’s nearing seven. The sun is out in all of its fullness and life, but she doesn’t stop to appreciate it. Kim hardly has breakfast at school, preferring to eat with her parents. Her mom never failed to make a stack of fluffy buttermilk pancakes that Kim didn’t love.

She gets in the breakfast line at the cafeteria, and her stomach violently turns as she declines an offer of pancakes. By the time she finds a seat at an empty table near one of the corners of the cafeteria, the bacon, eggs, and hash browns on her plate look even less appetizing than she expected them to. Sighing, Kim mutters a word of grace -- literally, just a word, and it’s a resentful, bitter word at that -- and opens her bottle of orange juice with _so_ much force that the cap cracks in her hand.

Ah, fuck. Today’s going to be a long day.

Kim spends a few minutes prodding aimlessly at her food, taking a bite every now and then, but not really committed to actually really eating anything. From across the room, she spots a familiar yellow beanie entering the quietly buzzing cafeteria. There’s not enough students in there yet, so Trini catches her eyes easily, surprise momentarily flickering over her features before it’s replaced by her default nonchalance. The attention tells Kim that she’s not going to be sitting alone for much longer, especially since Trini just automatically gravitates to her whenever they’re not in class and Kim does the same, so she mentally prepares herself for company.

She watches Trini get in line and follows the steady movement of the back of her head the entire time until Trini heads toward her table. Trini plops her plate down with a huff and drops into her seat with an equal amount of “fuck this, fuck school,” scrutinizing Kim with a questioning eyebrow raise.

“Kimberly Hart, Queen Bee, eating breakfast at school? Holy shit, I gotta alert the media.” Trini’s smirk quickly falls when Kim doesn’t immediately fire back with witty retort. “You good?”

Nope. “Yeah, I’m just shit tired. I had a paper to work on last night, and my parents forgot to buy groceries this week. Work’s been hell for them with, you know, Rita and all.” But, she has a lie ready on the tip of her tongue, and it falls out all too easily.

If Trini knows she’s lying, which Kim doesn’t think she would because she’s never lied to any of the other Rangers before, then she doesn’t show it.

They eat in partial silence, chatting about the next few dragging hours of school every now and then, as the cafeteria fills and fills, becoming the bustling hub it normally is.

She knows that Trini eats breakfast at school every morning, without fail, to avoid her parents’ shit. And, in a way, Kim is, too, this specific morning. She feels a sense of soothing intimacy with Trini in this, even if the other girl’s not even aware of it.

 

* * *

 

Kim forces herself to get through the first four periods she has before lunch. First is English, where -- in a moment of self-fulfilling prophecy that Kim curses herself for -- Mr. Jordan assigns a three-page paper due next Monday. Ugh. Just one more reason for her to not get any sleep next Sunday night.

In second period Sociology, she sits in the front row, trying to focus on the differences between prejudice, discrimination, and stereotypes and failing miserably. Her gaze wanders so much, and when she looks at the powerpoint slide on display, she blanks, getting lost in the negative space more than the actual words on the screen.

Her lack of focus must be obvious enough -- or maybe it’s the “Ranger bond” or whatever -- that Zack flicks her a note from the back of the room. She hears it and catches it deftly in her palm as it zips over her shoulder. Good thing, too -- had her reaction time been a few milliseconds later, Zack’s note would’ve bounced off of the projector screen and they both would’ve been in trouble.

It takes some sneaky maneuvering, but Kim manages to get the note open under the pretense of pulling another sheet of paper from her folder to take notes on, despite the current one in front of her being two sentences shy from blank.

_U keep starin out the window. U ok? Princesses dont get distracted a lot._

Kim purses her lips, frowning at the concern that she can _feel_ through the note. Not to mention what she’s sure are Zack’s eyes boring a hole into the back of her head until she responds to him.

The thing is, she doesn’t want to say anything to anyone right now.

A few minutes pass, and Kim lazily jots down a few bullet points about racial stereotyping. She already knows a little bit about that, given herself. And, honestly, Walker is the chillest -- but most monotonous -- social sciences teacher in the school; all his powerpoints are online, so Kim makes a mental reminder to download today’s at a later time so she can catch up on the notes. (She probably won’t, but it’s whatever.)

The second note Zack throws fucking _clips_ her in the ear, and Kim _almost_ turns around to flick it at his face, but she restrains herself if only for the fact that she’d disrupt the lecture. She flinches in her seat, covering up the spasm as a loud cough that only briefly catches Mr. Walker’s attention as well as few of the other kids around her, but everyone’s back to the lecture within a split second.

Trying to keep a low profile today is proving to be the hardest thing she’s ever done in her life, _including_ piloting a giant not-dinosaur dinozord.

This time, she opens Zack’s second note underneath her desk, doing it in one quick movement and masking the sound of paper rustling with another fake cough.

_Ok ms “read at 8:31 am ✓” i see how it is. Meet me in the pit pinky (ง •̀_•́)ง_

Zack’s doodle of the fighting emoji nearly makes her laugh -- would've been her first genuine one since before the weekend -- and she fights (ha) to keep it down by biting her lip so hard she accidentally bleeds. Fuck.

It gives her an excuse to sneak off outside for a few minutes, though, so she quickly scribbles a response -- _im fine, talk to u more at lunch_ \-- which she cleverly throws to the back of the room in the middle of raising her hand to ask for the restroom. The downside of throwing without looking? Kim suspects it’s similar to backing up without using a rearview mirror. She knows _relatively_ where Zack’s seat is, but without actually looking, she’s just hazarding a random guess based off of how straight of an angle his notes came at her from.

There’s a loud scraping sound as a chair from the back of the classroom drags the floor, and everyone in the room -- Kim included -- glances at the offender. She can’t help but giggle quietly to herself when she catches Zack’s eyes, knowing immediately that she overshot her goal and he had to reach to grab her note.

She doesn’t wait for Zack’s response and gets herself excused to the restroom as soon as she can, glancing at Zack as she leaves to let him know with her eyes that she isn’t in the mood to exchange any more notes for the period.

In the restroom, Kim checks all the stalls, making sure that there’s nobody in there (the _incident_ with Amanda and Harper made her paranoid as hell around bathroom stalls), before she clings to the nearest sink. There’s a rumbling in her being, threatening to explode if she doesn’t do something about it soon. It’s nothing that some Netflix and ice cream won’t further stomp down and repress for another few days. It’s exactly what she’s been doing all weekend long sans school.

Kim looks at her reflection in the mirror, eyes narrowing at the tired girl who looks back at her.

It’s so, so fucking disappointing. She had been so _damn_ close to something good, something nice in this world, and in one weekend, her world went from amazing to shit all over again. She remembers smiling with genuine ease and tossing notes back and forth just a week ago in detention, but two days ago, that same casualness was gone and every smile she’d given her friends in that detention had been forced and painful.

Lying had been easiest the first twenty-four hours, Friday to Saturday night. By Sunday, she had died only to be unwillingly dragged back to life by the idea of fucking school looming around the corner. She’d dodge offers to train all weekend long, but that wasn’t going to last any longer, not with Trini and Zack starting to slowly but surely notice something off this morning.

And, then, there’d be Jason and Billy at lunch. Shit.

With her heart heavier than when she came into the restroom, Kim cleans up her lip with a wet paper towel and goes back to class, dragging her feet the whole way. She doesn’t look at Zack as she enters, and for the rest of class, he doesn’t bother her again.

 

* * *

 

In Biology right after, she hopes to avoid Trini, but the moment she walks in, Kim knows she’s screwed. The classroom has already been set up in lab form, and she grumbles to herself, already seeking Trini out with her eyes because if she’s going to have to suffer through a lab, then she’d rather tell her fellow Ranger to not bother her than pair up with anyone else in class and actually have to talk to them about the procedure.

As if she knew she was being sought after (well, of course, they’re both the only one the other mainly interacts with in this class), Trini is at a table in the back of the room, and the stool next to her is saved for Kim by her backpack.

It’s going to suck, but having it suck with Trini is better than any other alternative she can think of.

Kim makes her way to Trini’s table and slumps down on the stool when Trini moves her backpack.

Trini’s bold; Kim’ll give her that. She knows the moment she sits down that she’s going to face a loaded question. And Trini never disappoints on Kim predicting her behavior and words.

“Zack texted me before class and said you were acting off.”

Kim meets Trini’s eyes, which ask the unspoken question of why, but she’s tired and tired is what she tries to convey with all of her being.

“Not right now,” is her too-quick, too-evasive response, “Maybe later.”

Trini’s nonchalant exterior doesn’t falter, and she shrugs it off. “Alright, then. Later.” Then, her voice drops lower, gets softer, “If you don’t wanna do the lab today, if you’re not… doing okay, I can just do it all, and you just stick your name on the data sheet.”

Kim’s heart melts in her chest, touched by the brief, gentle kindness in Trini’s words, and God, she wants to break right then, just because Trini cracked open a door for her to walk through, but she can’t. It’s too early. She _knows_ that there’s more resolve, more stubbornness and fire and guard left in her to last just a short while longer. And, because Kim’s petty with herself, she doesn’t let herself tear up like she wants to.

“I’ll make it up to you another time,” she says, short and a forced kind of casual.

Again, Trini shrugs, but her eyes are still soft for a moment before going back to neutral boredom. “Don’t sweat it. Anything for you.”

Kim swallows. In her chest, her heart aches.

 

* * *

 

Art is her last period before lunch. The class is working on a still life painting, and Kim easily gauges that she’s gotten far enough ahead from last week that she can risk not working at all today and still make the deadline. So, instead, she sneaks her earbuds through her jacket and up her collar, cursing herself for no longer having long enough hair to completely hide non-black earbuds, and takes a nap.

The bell for A lunch jolts her _hard_ out of her nap. Her exclamation of “Shit!” as she _almost_ snaps off a piece of the desk underneath her hands doesn’t go unnoticed by Mr. Mendes, who _tsk_ s at her disapprovingly as she quickly apologizes and sheepishly scrambles out of class before he can write her up for cussing.

Kim is one of the first people in the cafeteria for A lunch, thankfully, so she gets a few moments to herself as she shuffles through the lunch line. When she’s done grabbing food that she knows she’s not going to really touch, she makes a beeline for the table she and the other Rangers have basically claimed as their own, surprised to find Trini already there with a tray of food.

“You weren’t…” she glances at Trini then to the lunch line and back, “How the hell did you get here so fast?”

“Oh, I have my ways, _princesa_.” Trini chuckles and picks up a banana from her tray, pointing it at Kim like a gun and firing off an imaginary shot. Kim feels the impact in her gut and can’t breathe for a second.

She forces a smile. Or tries to.

As lunch actually starts and streams of students pour into the room, Kim prods at her food with a fork, not at all committed to eating it but making herself take a bite every time she catches Trini glancing at her. When the boys arrive, Kim ends up having to eat a little bit more, if only to not draw any questions from Jason or concerned looks from Zack. It makes her feel sick and more tired than she already was.

She doesn’t look up once after the boys arrive, hearing their chit-chat with Trini, but she’s hyperaware of everyone at the table dancing around her. It could be the Ranger bond or not. Regardless, Kim can sense every glance someone is giving her, and it’s plainly audible to her that the conversation of the table is significantly slowed down and forced as if everyone else is distracted by her not speaking.

It frustrates her beyond belief.

Jason, thankfully but also not thankfully, cracks first. “Kim? Are you doing okay?”

She’s been waiting for what feels like forever, so when she looks up and holds his gaze, she does so with a sharp edge that makes him flinch.

Another time, she would’ve smugly laughed at making Jason Scott flinch. It saddens her that she doesn’t have the energy to right now.

“Yeah,” she replies, hollowly, her stomach empty, “I’m fine.”

The fork in her hand bends in half under her increasingly tough grip. She doesn’t notice until Jason nods at her hand.

“Doesn’t look like you’re fine.”

Next to him, Trini smacks him on the arm and defensively goes “ _Dude_.” in a tone that would’ve made Kim fall on her knees had she not already been sitting. She doesn’t believe in praising protectiveness because she can damn well protect herself, but Trini’s full of all kinds of surprises today.

Tearing her eyes away from Jason, Kim finds a slight comfort in looking next to her at Billy, who gives her the sweetest of small smiles, almost like an encouragement that she can keep with her gruff and silent act if that’s what she’s comfortable with. It’s not much, but it gives her a small boost of confidence. Or it takes away a small sliver of her self-loathing. Whichever one, it works, nevertheless.

“I’m…” she sighs, “It’s- it’s a long story. And I _really_ don’t wanna talk about it right now.” Her words are clipped, and she _knows_ \-- just like she knows that Zack’s favorite ice cream is cookies and cream and that Jason has been trying to find the courage to go to his first therapy appointment and that they all _know_ each other despite not knowing every detail of every life -- that the others can sense the pain radiating off of her. She’s been trying to hide it, and it definitely worked during Saturday detention, but now… this is where her resolve runs thin. It’s a damn good thing she didn’t see any of her friends on Sunday.

“I- how about I text you guys tonight,” she continues, voice quiet and uncharacteristically shy and eyes focused on her meatloaf that she’s hardly touched, “When I’m… ready and you guys come over and I’ll- we’ll talk?”

From her other side, Zack puts his hand over one of hers and squeezes briefly before she has the chance to pull away. It feels nice, though, so she just lets her hand stay in his grasp. “That sounds like a good idea,” he says, bumping her shoulder gently with his own.

She glances up and sees three other looks of unwavering, unconditional, _unwarranted_ love. Trini’s interests her the most, and Kim lingers on holding her gaze the longest, almost breaking out into tears at the deep concern in the other girl’s eyes.

But, still, she doesn’t let herself cry. Not yet, not here in public. The idea is too terrifying.

God, what she’d give to skip the rest of the day and lay in bed surrounded by the warmth that she can feel creeping its way into her heart now.

 

* * *

 

The crushing realization hits her as she’s leaving lunch. The warmth she fleetingly felt from before leaves her like the wind knocked out of her lungs after taking a hit. She’s cold again from the moment she enters fifth period History, drudges through sixth period Statistics, and sits out of participating in seventh period Theatre.

Kim’s cold when she comes home to a dead empty house, so she slams the door as loud as she can, knowing nobody’s around to tell her to apologize for doing so. She goes straight for her room, stripping and tossing her clothes for the day on the floor like she’d done for the past few days. She slips into her pajamas and grabs her laptop from where it’s charging her nightstand, lazily flopping into bed and pulling the covers up to her chest. It’s not the warmth she wants, but that’s a long ways off.

Hours pass, and the only movement she makes is getting up to take a piss and grab a bottle of water from downstairs. Kim manages to make a small, insignificant dent in the season of Grey’s Anatomy she’s on before pausing Netflix and picking up her phone.

She’s not quite ready, but her parents aren’t home yet and the house is getting lonely. Going outside by herself is not an option, at least not tonight.

Kim opens up the group chat titled “Power Geeks™” with all their Ranger colors in heart emojis tacked on the end. The last messages on there are of her making up an excuse to not go to training from Sunday night, and her heart drops into her stomach like a rock.

_[KH 7:13 PM] hey guys. sorry for not texting sooner. if u wanna come over, i’m in my room._

_[JS 7:13 PM] dont apologize, ur fine. on our way_

Huffing out a resigned sigh, she throws her phone back on her bed and settles back into her Grey’s binge, wallowing and waiting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lied, it wasn't "some" angst. It was 100% angst. I'm dying. I've never written two chapters within a ten-hour period like this before. (It's probably never happening again tbh.)
> 
> All the Rangers are nd and Kim has depression and may or may not have been suicidal during some parts of the movie. These are headcanons I'll fight anyone on.


	3. The Return to Angel Grove, Part III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Kim comes clean to her friends and teammates about the troubles she's been facing recently, the Rangers go out to cheer her up, which leads to a chance encounter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I saw the PR movie a second time the other day. Then, this chapter happened. It's a kinda drawn out one which is why the update took a couple days longer than, y'know, the first two rapidfire ones.
> 
>  **Chapter-specific warnings:** uh, depression mentions, family troubles/divorce angst, death trauma mentions. Idk, I know these warnings are vague, but like, the mentions are just all over the place. There's nothing incredibly graphic. Just hit me up in the comments if you'd like something listed as a warning in future chapters.

Before the other Rangers got to her window, Kim’s already had to open yet another box of tissues because “He’s rejecting the heart transplant!” got her _way_ more emotional than she thought it would. So, when there’s a knock on her window and she notices Jason’s head poking up, he probably sees Kimberly Hart, tough and sassy, laying on her bed with her laptop open and a box of tissues, crying over her laptop. Which is exactly what’s happening. It’s not one of her proudest moments.

Her window is pushed open, and her friends come scrambling through. First, Jason, then Trini, Zack, and Billy. Her bedroom lights are off -- she _could_ crack a joke about darkness, her old friend, but she doesn’t -- but being a Ranger comes with more physiological adaptability, so she can see everyone as clear as they can see her.

Which also means they can take in the dreary state that her room’s in -- the clothes on the floor, the stack of books on her desk that aren’t in any particular order (she’s contemplating calling it The Depression Stack), and the clutter of _everything_ so much that there’s hardly a place to walk. Kim’s gotten the hang of it already; she lives in this pit, after all, but Jason tries to take a step toward her bed and almost trips over a bundle of her clothes.

He stops, frowning, and then that frown’s directed at her. “How are you doing?”

Kim inhales sharply and exhales heavily, hoping that the weight on her shoulders would leave as her breath does. It doesn’t. She shrugs, closing her laptop and tossing it aside on her bed, “Like a freight train ran me over.”

The words are out of her mouth before she can even think about them, and she winces when she realizes what it sounds like. The train wreck is fresh on her friends’ minds as well, evidently, because Jason stiffens and Zack looks at the floor.

“Your room smells nice,” Billy quietly chimes in, and even in the poorly moonlit darkness, Kim can feel _and_ see his smile directed at her. It’s heartwarming, slightly.

She scoffs under her breath and forces out a joke through gritted teeth, “I’ve been using Febreze. Covers up the dead body in the closet.”

In the darkness, everyone’s too scared -- maybe of her, maybe of tripping over something in her room -- to move, so Kim sucks in a long breath and scrambles out of bed, focusing on each small step she takes to get to the light switch and flipping on the lights with a satisfying _click_. The lights are a bright, shocking contrast to the night she’s been surrounding herself with; Kim groans and rubs her eyes, letting herself get used to the first time her room’s been illuminated in a long while.

She turns back to the other Rangers, arms crossed, fingers playing with the fabric of her shirt. She can’t meet anyone’s gaze head-on, and it’s just so tiring how everyone’s dancing around it, waiting for her to say something when she doesn’t want to. But, despite her reservations and stubbornness, this isn’t always going to be a Her issue. Soon, she suspects, it could turn into a Them issue, and she wants the others to know before that happens.

When Kim speaks, she looks up, her eyes fixed on the glow-in-the-dark constellation she has on her ceiling of Aquarius.

“My parents…” her breath comes out shaky, slow; her fingers grip her sleeves tighter, and there’s the soft sound of fabric tearing, “are getting… divorced.”

Silence.

Then, Trini mutters, “ _Shit_.”

Kim musters up the courage to look her friends in the eyes, and when she does, she starts crying and everything comes tumbling out. “They’ve… been fighting for the past few weeks, and I thought- I thought it was just some stupid shit and they’d, you know, they’d get over it fast.”

She’s unsteady, feels like she’s going to crumble and collapse on her knees, but when she looks at Trini, Kim gets a slight nod in response, an encouraging motion to keep her going. It hurts- fuck, it hurts, but she closes her eyes, counts to ten under her breath, and continues.

“We- they sat me down Friday night and told me. And, even after that, they’re still _fucking_ fighting. I--” she pauses, wiping her tears away with her sleeve, “My dad and I used to get up early in the morning, before school, and my mom would make breakfast for us. We’d eat. _Together_.” As the thought, Kim bristles, her mourning briefly falling prey to irritation, anger.

Zack, ever the adventurous one, chances the first question, “Are your parents home?”

Her eyes are hard enough to cut diamond; Zack takes a step back behind Trini. “ _No_ ,” she bites out, “They keep coming home when I’m asleep and leaving before I wake up. Like they can’t- they can’t face their own fucking _daughter_. Isn’t that so fucking stupid?” Kim shakes her head, chuckling bitterly. This is a bad dream, a nightmare that she wants to leave, but every time she blinks, it becomes more and more real.

The next part is the worst to say; the words get stuck in her throat, and she reaches out, taking a few hesitant steps forward, looking for someone to hold onto. Jason instinctively meets her the rest of the way, wrapping her up in his arms. She clings onto his shirt, letting herself sob freely until she’s all cried out.

When she’s ready to talk, she pulls back from his grasp, silently apologizing for getting his shirt wet (to which he shakes it off with a shrug), and looks straight into his eyes, but she’s speaking to everyone in the room. Maybe, even, her parents, though they’re not here. “I drove myself to church yesterday morning… alone. I thought maybe they left early ‘cause I woke up and the house was empty. But, when I fucking got there, my parents weren’t- they didn’t- they didn’t fucking show _up_ ! I had to lie my ass off when my pastor asked me where they were. I-I-I haven’t even gotten the chance to talk to them about _any_ of it because they left me _alone_!” Her voice rises, not yelling yet, but strained, broken. Her hands are on Jason’s arms, gripping his wrists because his sturdiness is the only thing keeping her upright, but her knuckles are white and she knows that, had he not had superpowers, she would’ve broken a few of his bones already.

By the window, Trini spews out a line of curses in Spanish under her breath, none of which Kim fully understands, but she catches “ _cabrones_ ” and knows that’s “cowards” or something like that. Kim’s probably being generous, and it’s _probably_ something more colorful.

She’d be amused any other time and tease Trini about how cute she sounds while cursing in Spanish. She makes a mental reminder to do exactly that at a later time.

“It’s all my fault,” Kim confesses, her shoulders sagging and her hands dropping to her sides. That, finally, breaks the tension in the room, and everyone starts trying to speak at once, cutting into each other.

“That’s not true--” Jason.

“No, it’s not, _princesa_ ,” Trini.

“C’mon, Kim, this kind of shit happens all the time--” Zack.

“It doesn’t mean it’s your fault--” Billy.

“ _STOP!_ ” She stomps her foot on the floor and actually _shouts_ , and the only reason why she doesn’t kick a hole through the floor is sheer luck. Everyone shuts up immediately, shocked. Kimberly Hart may have been queen bitch in a past life, but as long as they’ve known her, she hasn’t raised her voice once at any of them. Jason actually takes a few steps back, falling back in with the others. Kim doesn’t give any visible sign of it, but she’s definitely grateful for the space now.

“Do you--” she draws out slowly, “did you know that sexting- that sending off a nude someone sent you to other kids, who then send that off to _more_ kids, counts as distributing child pornography if the person in the picture is a minor?” They all know, at this point, what she’d passed on at the campfire weeks ago. Kim doesn’t talk about it too much, sees it as a way of putting the past behind her and focusing on her brighter future where she has friends who care about and support her.

But, like a bad penny…

“I thought Amanda’s our age. It's not like you're, you know, some old dude with a computer full of, like, child porn,” Jason says, squinting his eyes, confused.

Kim bites down on the inside of her cheek, grinding her teeth together and fighting the wave of nausea that washes over her. Talking about it doesn’t always make it easier; sometimes, it does. Tonight, it doesn’t. “She is,” her gaze is floating back up to the ceiling, at Aquarius -- rebellious, aloof, unemotional (figures that she’s one, then), “but I’d still get in _some_ kind of trouble if Amanda and her family decided to press charges.

“I got to…” she scoffs, scowling more at herself for her stupidity than anything else, “I got to sit down with my parents and listen to a police officer go through all the things I could be charged with. It was like sitting through a ‘Say No to Drugs’ assembly, except _terrifying_ because, suddenly, it wasn’t just… a concept. It wasn’t just a ‘oh, I’d _never_ do drugs.’ It was ‘fuck, how did I let myself become the kind of person who cyberbullies someone else?’”

Trini shuffles her feet and asks quietly from the corner, “What were the charges you could get?”

“Probation, community service, fines… the regular crap.” Kim swallows, and then, she just can’t do it anymore. She ungracefully sits down on the floor -- more like collapses to her knees and then lets herself just slump the rest of the way -- and pulls her knees up to her chest, scowling at the floor.

“But then, there was also the real shit. The ‘how to scare kids straight’ stuff,” she chuckles, but her eyes are scared, “Sure scared the crap out of me. You know, the consequences that _really_ ruin your life.”

Pausing, Kim takes the brief silence to run a hand through her hair, tugging slightly at a tangle that’s formed from the past few days.

It comes out as a resigned sigh falling from her lips, a certain kind of hell that she’d just accepted once she heard it for the first time.

“I could’ve gone to jail… and I would’ve had to put my name on a sex offender registry. Small town Angel Grove’s first.” She rubs at her eyes, tired and deserving, “Hell of a thing to be the first of.”

“You’re not on there, though,” Billy plainly states. He brushes past Jason and sits down on the floor across from her but still not too close, moving a pair of her shoes out of the way.

“I know, but hearing that was, like… a punch in the face,” she says, not finding any other appropriate analogies.

To his credit, Jason laughs softly and gives her a warm smile, “They put your tooth back?” She can’t help but crack a small smile at the joke.

Kim picks at her carpet, running her fingers through the soft material. Ugh, she needs to vacuum her room, too. So many things. “I don’t- I’m not sure what I wanna do after high school- I mean, I wanna go to college, but after that, you know, as a career. And… if I became a registered sex offender, that just screws all of those plans up. No more dance teacher or gymnastics coach or… even if I wanted to, like, be a writer and I had some kind of book signing. I don’t even think I’d be allowed to have a press tour if that happened. Can’t have people bringing their kids around me, right?

“Hell, I don’t even think I would’ve been able to keep going to school.

“I was doing so well, you know? I had good grades. I mean, I still do, but… I respected my parents. But, behind their backs, I turned into a _horrible_ person, and it took the threat of my life being over to snap me out of it.” Kim sighs, holding her face in her hands, her words coming out muffled, “They spent so much time and resources making it go away legally… Helped that Amanda’s family didn’t press charges in the end, but I guess Amanda figured torturing me for the rest of my life was good enough revenge for her.”

All of that for a damn picture. Jason had said it to her before that there were thousands of pictures floating around the school network, passing from private message to private message or, maybe, even group chat to group chat. This was different, though. This was her doing, and now, it was hurting other people. It’d messed up her parents before, but their disappointment in her over the past month was nothing next to a _divorce_.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spies Trini checking her phone, the bright screen lighting up the girl’s features. “You know what’d get your mind off this shit?” Trini asks, her fingers typing away on her phone.

“Running away,” Kim deadpans.

Jason chuckles and catches her gaze, the flicker of a moment from what feels like so long ago coming back to her. “Only if you plan on taking all of us with you,” he says.

Technically, she could since her car’s downstairs in the garage and it comfortably seats five.

But, unfortunately, Angel Grove still needs its defenders for an indefinite amount of time, if Rita’s threats were anything to go off of.

“No,” Trini answers, sticking her phone back into her pocket, “Frozen yogurt. There’s a Pinkberry on Barker and Fountainview. Since Krispy Kreme is still a pile of rubble on the ground. It closes at ten, so we’ve got some time.”

“Well, you definitely know the way to my heart…” Kim swears that Trini straightens at that, but her brain’s honestly too much of a fuzzy mess right now to distinguish natural actions from unnatural ones, “But, and this is gonna sound so gross… I haven’t showered since, like, my parents told me they were getting divorced. I’m not exactly prepared to go anywhere ‘cept school. And even that’s stretching it. I’m almost out of clean laundry.”

Jason shrugs, slipping his hands into his pockets, “I don’t think that’s gross. It’s fair, you know, after all this crap you’ve been holding in. It’s relatable.”

Trini finally shifts out of her corner and comically tries to step over all of Kim’s mess on the floor, to her, walking past Kim and Billy to get to the closet, “You have to have _something_ clean in here… and, really, _I_ couldn’t tell you hadn’t showered Saturday or today, so whatever you’ve been doing worked.”

“Yeah,” Billy agrees, nodding quickly, “You always smell nice during lunch.”

At that, Kim snorts, shaking her head, “Pfft, thanks, but that’s just a whole lot of perfume and body wipes. And not letting people touch my hair.”

“Kinda TMI, but noted.” Trini goes back to counting the clothing items still hanging in Kim’s closet -- four clean shirts that Kim’s saving for the rest of the week… well, she wouldn’t have to save them if she did laundry, but -- then moves on to the stuff shoved in the back. “Didn’t know Kimberly Hart owned hoodies and sweatpants,” she comments, eyebrows raising in interest.

“Oh, I’m full of surprises,” Kim jokes, “And depression.” Zack chokes at that, tries to cover it up as a cough, but it’s obviously fake. There’s something about being so done with life’s bullshit that brings out fatalistic humor from her. “They’re comfy, alright? Never really worn them outside of the house.”

Trini pulls a hoodie out of its spot, waving it at Kim, “Why d’you still have this?”

On the front, “Angel Grove Tigers,” on the back, “Varsity Cheer.”

Ugh. “Never got around to throwing it out, I guess.”

The hoodie gets tossed onto her bed; Kim adds another mental reminder to donate it later. If she remembers to.

Trini tosses a zip-up hoodie at her, crimson and heavenly soft to the touch; Kim remembers buying it on a memorable trip to the mall with Amanda once -- memorable but she pushes it down and refocuses. “Here, wear this with some sweatpants.”

“I don’t have an undershirt,” Kim says, looking down at her pajamas, “And I don’t hate myself enough to go outside in my pjs.” She’s comfortable enough with her fellow Rangers to still be wearing cartoon puppies on her sleepwear, but as for the general public… nah.

“ _Hey_ , I go outside in my pjs,” Jason pipes up, indignantly. Kim flashes him a cheeky grin.

Face (adorably) scrunched up in contemplation, Trini spends a few more seconds looking over what’s left in Kim’s closet but decides against everything else in there. She unties the flannel wrapped around her waist and throws it unceremoniously at Kim’s face. “There’s your undershirt, princess.”

It smells like Trini’s body spray, and Kim scrambles into the bathroom as fast as she can, stopping only to grab a bra from her dresser, to avoid letting the others see her blush the same deep shade as Jason’s armor.

In the bathroom, Kim locks the door and just stops, focusing on her breathing for a moment. In and out, in and out. Her eyes wander to the picture she has taped to the bathroom mirror of her and the others, sitting up one of the cliff edges overlooking Angel Grove. They’re her family -- a second one, an amazing one.

She can do this. It’s just frozen yogurt. A small step outside of school, back to normalcy. If anything could ever feel normal again.

Kim changes out of her pajamas and puts on a spritz of perfume for appearance’s sake. Her hair’s relatively decent; she just sticks to running a hand through it and going with that. When she’s done, Kim leaves the bathroom and, after a moment of consideration, throws her pajamas into the hamper in her closet.

“Ready to go?” Everyone’s looking at her once Jason speaks; Kim nods and grabs her car keys from her desk, tossing them at him.

“You drive. I’m not in the mood.”

 

* * *

 

“Hey, honey, come look at this.”

Kimberly pauses, mid-unpacking, still holding one of her nightshirts as she goes over to the desk in the corner of their hotel room. She leans over his shoulder, reading the article he’s got pulled up on his laptop screen. That’s all they’ve been doing since they came back to town -- reading article after article, blog post after blog post, trying to find some small sliver of an answer to any of their questions on the Internet. It’s kinda sad; they haven’t even ventured out to see the sights yet, how home has changed since they’ve been gone.

“A few weeks ago, a totaled minivan was found near that gold mine. The same one Michael Cranston died at.” Tommy says, shifting slightly to let Kim scroll down and read the article for herself, “Sheriff's Department says it seems to have gotten hit by the train that comes by near there, and there were witness reports from mine security that some people -- kids, probably -- were trespassing the night of the crash. There was no blood or any kind of evidence that someone was injured or even _in_ the car when it got hit.”

“Kids, huh? Sounds familiar.” Kimberly nudges Tommy and quirks an eyebrow at him in jest, “Anything about them finding their science teacher’s Batcave?”

“It wasn’t a Batcave--”

“Dorky dinosaur lab, same difference.”

Tommy rolls his eyes, leaning back in his seat, “You know what the kicker is?”

“Shoot.”

“The van was registered to Candace Cranston. She hadn’t reported it missing, and when police asked her, she said it must’ve gotten stolen during the night.”

“Well. Maybe, it isn’t them. Maybe, someone stole it and just… drove it onto the tracks and jumped out at the last second.”

One look at Tommy, though, and Kimberly knows. It’s them -- the same kids who’ve been on their minds since that morning. It’s only been hours, but that world, their house together, Tommy’s teaching and Kimberly’s writing… it all seems so far away, and she knows it’s only going to feel more distant as the hours pass.

She takes the shirt in her hands and goes back to unpacking their clothes into the dresser. “We should get something to eat,” she says.

“We _just_ ate before we got into town.”

“Something… light, then. Dessert or something.”

“Alright then,” Tommy stands, closing his laptop, and pries a pair of jeans from her hands, putting them back in her suitcase, “Let’s go.”

“ _Now_?”

“Yeah, _now_ . Packing can wait.”

 

* * *

 

Angel Grove at night is quiet but still active enough to steadily buzz. Kimberly recognizes some stores as she and Tommy walk hand-in-hand, but others are completely foreign to her. The streets bring about the same sense of home -- some she remembers, some she doesn’t because they’re newer.

Their walking takes them to where the Juice Bar used to be, but approaching the building, Kimberly can see it’s been closed for quite some time.

“I wonder what happened…” she muses, her heart sinking.

“At least it’s still here. Not replaced by, I don’t know, a Starbucks or a McDonald’s.” Tommy puts his arm around her shoulders, giving her a small side-hug. Kimberly leans into his touch, resting her head on his shoulders.

“Yeah, but I just thought--” Kimberly sighs, her voice cracking slightly before she clears her throat and continues, “maybe if everything else had changed but if Ernie was still here… everything wouldn’t feel so weird. Or, you know, we could forget about the weirdness over a banana split.” If only for a moment.

Tommy kisses the top of her head and reassuringly squeezes her shoulder, “Come on, let’s find something to brighten up your night.”

Kimberly blushes, pulling up their joined hands and presses a gentle kiss to the back of Tommy’s as they take to the sidewalks again, “You already do.”

 

* * *

 

Only a few hours before closing, Pinkberry is rather empty, only a few tables being taken, especially given that it’s a Monday night of all nights.

At a table for five near the back of parlor, Kim is resting on the table, her arms crossed and head burrowed in the crook of her elbow. Despite the others’ insistence on paying for her and getting her _whatever_ she wanted (“How about you run me over- _ow,_ what the fuck, Trini?” “The Death Humor is _my_ thing.”), Kim had settled for sharing Trini’s frozen yogurt and given up halfway through eating it, slumping into the position she was currently in.

“I wanna sleep,” she murmurs, groaning loudly enough into her elbow that one of the employees behind the counter looks over at her in confusion.

“Sorry, _princesa_ ,” Trini says, dryly, bumping Kim’s knee with her own, “but we’re staying here and eating frozen yogurt ‘til you smile.”

“That’s… unnecessarily extra. Fight me.” comes her muffled response.

Trini leans over and says _too_ close to Kim’s ear, tone all cocky and voice raspy, “I’d _win_.”

In her _dreams_. Well, more accurately, in Kim’s dreams.

Her hoodie is honestly so comfy (and she’s so tired from crying earlier) that she starts to doze off, eyelids drooping and eventually closing.

Nobody bothers waking her -- or maybe they figure she deserves a break -- but Kim jolts from her brief rest when Zack straightens up next to her, suddenly, and his arm jostles her elbow.

All she catches as she blinks the sleep out of her eyes is Zack’s hushed “Who is _that_?”

“Who’s who?” Kim mumbles, looking around. There’s only the two employees behind the counter, another table occupied a little ways down from theirs, and a couple who just walked in-

Kim does a double take, her mouth falling open, as she sees the woman arm in arm with her husband. Perceptive Ranger senses lets her spot the glint of their wedding bands, but that’s not what interests her the most. What gets her -- what Kim suspects also gets the others because everyone at the table is eerily quiet and just kinda (awkwardly) _gaping_ at the woman -- is how uncannily _familiar_ she looks. When Kim looks at her, she sees the similar eyebrows, similar eyes, a similar chin, hell, even a similar nose to what she sees when she looks in the mirror.

“What the _fuck_ ,” she says under her breath.

The woman meets Kim’s eyes for a split second, and in a moment of comedic hilarity that she would’ve _loved_ to laugh at, had she not been part of the embarrassment, all five of them immediately avert their eyes and bore holes into the table.

If Kim didn’t know any better, she’d say they’ve all never seen a beautiful woman before.

(But, clearly, attractiveness wasn’t the question at hand here.)

Mentally, Kim feels the air, knowing that the others are kinda expecting her to say something first because, well, uh, that was weird as hell. It’s an awkward silence as she sneaks small glances back and forth between the self-serve yogurt dispensers and the table as she tracks where the two are. Once the woman and her husband get to the cash register and are far enough away from the Rangers’ table to not eavesdrop, Jason speaks up first.

“Did you guys _feel_ that?”

“Feel what?” Billy frowns, “Is there something I’m missing?”

“I _knew_ those two,” Trini whispers, “but that makes _no_ sense. I’ve never seen them before in my _life_.”

“Oh, that. Yeah, I _definitely_ felt that,” Billy nods, his brow wrinkling in more confusion, “which is weird because I don’t usually get those things.” He pauses then stares at Kim, tilting his head, “She looked like you.”

Everyone else at the table turns to her, to which she just shrugs, helplessly, “Well, heck if I know why?”

“She’s smokin’,” Zack helpfully supplies; Kim smacks him in the arm, “ _Ow_ . I mean, you’re hot, too- _ow_!”

Kim gets in close and hisses in his ear, “Shut your mouth before I shut it for you.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she watches the couple leave with their frozen yogurt in hand and lets herself relax, breathing out a sigh. That was weird.

One of the employees from behind the counter -- his name tag says Eugene, but Kim knows everyone at school calls him Skull -- reluctantly approaches their table, muttering a small hello to them all, his eyes fixes on Kim specifically. She’s about to politely -- or not -- tell him off before he tries to hit on her like he has before, but then, he hastily explains his presence.

“Hey, Kim, um, this is odd, but I promise it’s not poisoned or anything or whatever, but like, that woman who just left wanted you to, uh, have this?” He has a cup of frozen yogurt in his hands and offers it to Kim, who takes it after a hesitant second. When she sees the contents of the cup, her stomach turns, and her mouth falls open, lips parted in silent surprise. She almost doesn’t hear the rest of Skull’s rambling in her distraction. “I dunno, it was super strange, and her hubby’s credit card- it was like I’d seen his name before, but, uh, anyway- Oh! She wanted you to have this, too. Said it was an important message or something.” Skull drops a napkin on the table then excuses himself to go back to the counter as a new customer walks in.

Kim’s focus is completely caught by the cup of frozen yogurt while the others all try to look at the napkin at the same time, hands tangling and grabbing.

Vanilla and chocolate swirl, topped with strawberry slices and chocolate chips. A lone cherry sits on top. Kim feels like throwing up.

She knows this order.

Hell, she hasn’t gotten this order since…

“ _Kimberly_. Earth to Kim?” Trini snaps her fingers in front of Kim’s face, effectively jolting her out of her thoughts.

“What?”

The other girl points at the napkin on the table, the one that Kim was too distracted to read. “That’s your handwriting, isn’t it?”

It’s a question that doesn’t need an answer. Kim knows it the moment her eyes land on the napkin; she doesn’t even read it, just spots the unique way she curls her y’s, and jarringly bolts from her seat.

“Kim!”

Ignoring her friends’ shouts, she slips past Trini’s chair and zips out the door of the Pinkberry, skidding to a stop as her feet hit the sidewalk. Her eyes scan the immediate area for the couple, for the woman’s light pink shirt and her husband’s green jacket, whirling around until she feels dizzy. Her mind is racing with nothing in particular, just full of adrenaline and questions and possibly a tiny bit of fear. A stalker? Was this some fucked up joke from the kids at school?

Kim knows right away that it’s not some prank from another student. Too elaborate and drawn out, but even more importantly, she doesn’t even know what the _point_ of a “prank” like this would be. Or, even, what the “prank” was _supposed_ to be.

No, this is… something else. This is-

A hand grabs her arm, and Kim snaps into defensive mode, ready to flip the offender on their back, but when she turns around, Trini quickly holds up her hands in surrender.

“Shit, don’t hit me! It’s just me, man.”

Kim lets out a heavy sigh and mutters an apology that Trini casually waves away.

“You need to come inside and read that note.” Trini says, her hand ghosting over Kim’s shoulder before giving her what Kim figures is meant to be a comforting squeeze. Her skin ignites, even through the jacket she’s wearing, at the contact.

Once they go back inside, Kim and Trini sit back down at their table. Despite feeling like it’s weird to (she can’t resist the offer of what used to be her comfort dessert, though), Kim digs into her gift -- it’s kinda like a gift, she guesses -- with a spoon while Zack waves the napkin in front of her before she snatches it out of his hand and skims it.

_Hope you’re having a good night. There’s something important you and your friends need to see. Don’t get too close to the tracks. - a friend._

A friend. Right.

This was getting weirder by the second.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm kinda getting the hang of using both Kim and Kimberly in the same chapter and hopefully I won't mess up at all in the future. Bear with me.
> 
> Also tbh I'm Zack's reaction to Kimberly.


	4. The Return to Angel Grove, Part IV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Rangers come face-to-face with Kimberly Hart and Tommy Oliver.

They arrive at the mine nearing ten o’clock. There’s already a Jeep parked next to the mine’s entrance gate -- the couple’s, Kim assumes -- so Jason just parks next to it. The five of them scramble out, and immediately, Kim misses the safety and comfort of being squished in the backseat between Trini and Zack. The open air and the uncertainty of what they’re walking into makes her feel like a deer in headlights.

The gate’s already cracked open, so they just shuffle through and keep walking until they near the train tracks that cross into the area.

“How d’you guys figure they know about the train?” Zack asks, his voice hushed, as they quickly hop over the tracks, not wanting a repeat of what happened the last time they all were near anything to do with trains. Kim shudders to herself, remembering how fast her heart had been beating right before- she stops the thought in its… tracks.

Ugh. That was a bad one.

“My mom’s van was on the news,” Billy comments, “But, nobody ever figured out we were here. Or, at least, not until now. Maybe they saw it on the news or read it online? Which begs the question, were they looking for us or did they accidentally find out about us?”

Jason holds out a hand and stops them. “No one said anything about these two knowing about _us_ as Rangers, so just… keep a low profile, okay? Act chill.”

“My middle name is chill,” Kim mutters, sticking her hands into the pockets of her hoodie.

“I thought it was Ann?”

“I was being sarcastic, Billy. Sorry.”

“Ohhhh. Right.”

Trini nudges Kim in the side with her elbow and whispers to her, “Don’t kid yourself, _princesa_. You couldn’t be chill to save your life.”

“Why don’t you fight me--” Kim cuts herself off and grabs Trini’s arm, yanking her to a stop. In the moonlight combined with her superhuman eyesight, she spots them up ahead, sitting on a pile of boulders. “Guys.”

“Yeah, we see ‘em.” Jason takes the first step forward, all leader-like. “Hey!” he calls out, cupping his hands around his mouth, “We’re here like you asked.”

The two figures take notice of them -- hard not to with Jason’s voice -- and stand, approaching them with confident but simultaneously casual strides.

“Remember,” Jason says under his breath, “Act casual.”

Right. Kim can do that.

When the couple finally walks up to them, though, Kim has to swallow down a buzz of adrenaline. Her mind’s already racing as she sees the woman again -- and a closer look, this time, definitely doesn’t help answer any of the questions she has in her head.

“Thanks for coming,” the woman says, her voice gentle and soft. It was just three words, but somehow, Kim could tell a lot about the woman in those few seconds. She’s cautious. Chooses her words thoughtfully because she cares about the impact she has on people. She wears her heart on her sleeve and never pulls a mask; people know how she feels about them, easily and always, and that usually comes with a genuine love and empathy that falls like a waterfall.

But, at the same time, she’s feisty. Defiance looks as natural on her as beauty and grace did. In a room full of people, she’d be the first one to voice a snippy retort with a coy smile to boot. She isn’t a woman to mess with, Kim knows, because she could give anyone a run for their money. Nobody owned her; she belonged only to herself.

Kim had no idea how she got all of that from three words; it definitely took her _way_ longer to get a read on people.

“What do you want?” she snaps out, impulsively, and immediately regrets it. So much for chill.

Beside her, Trini elbows her in the ribs; Kim draws her mouth into a thin line and ignores giving Trini the satisfaction of a reaction.

“Just to talk,” the woman says, sharing a brief glance with her husband. Kim catches something like apprehension or doubt on both of their faces. The man reaches over and gives her hand a short, reassuring squeeze; the action doesn’t go unnoticed by the others.

“Yeah?” Zack asks, crossing his arms in a silent challenge. Jason puts a hand on his arm and yanks him back, stepping in front of him. Their powerful leader, taking charge.

“What’s with all the dodging around?” Jason straightens up, squares his shoulders, and gives the couple his best poker face; Kim figures it’s hardly intimidating since she’s seen him be a wiseass while slapping Colt, but he’s trying to put up a good facade. “Who are you?”

Kim’s eyes dart around, taking in the environment. Security should’ve been buffed up since the night they all first ended up here and because of Rita’s attack on Angel Grove, but with people more concerned about the pop-up disaster relief sites in town, the mine is empty. They could easily chance morphing here and taking on these two if something were to happen. In fact, Kim’s sure they could hold their own even _without_ their armor -- five against two isn’t a great set of odds.

The thing is, she’ll fight if she needs to, but the thought itself saps away a few ounces of her (already incredibly low) remaining energy for the day and she’s not sure how much left she’d be able to spend on kicking someone’s face in.

The woman mimics Zack, crossing her arms in the same way and sizing up Jason. She’s not particularly tall, only beating Trini by a few inches, but the way she stands, her confidence makes Kim feel… stronger. It’s empowering in some odd way, despite the circumstances.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” the woman says, slowly reaching into her pocket. Kim tenses, but then again, they’ve all survived literally getting hit by a train at who knows how many miles per hour. They could survive a gun point blank or something, right?

Totally.

Her soft sigh of relief gets her a quirked eyebrow from the woman.

“It’s just a wallet,” she says, holding it up for Kim and the others to see. Kim’s eyes follow the woman’s hands as she pulls out her license from one of the many pockets. “Here,” she holds it out specifically in Kim’s direction, pulling her hand back and giving Jason a stern look when he tries to grab it first. The woman doesn’t have kids (she doesn’t _feel_ like she actually has kids), but Kim can tell that that’s a total Mom Look™. How the hell does she know that? Who even knows.

Kim frowns at the license offered to her, giving a hesitant glance to Trini, who just shrugs helplessly.

Hands slightly shaking, Kim takes the license by a corner and holds it close enough to read.

The world freezes in that moment. Her heart sinks so low that Kim’s positive it’s left her body and created a heart-shaped hole in the ground between her feet.

_Hart, Kimberly Ann._

It’s… not real. That’s the only thing that comes to mind as she stares, unblinkingly, at all the information on the license. A birthday smack dab on Valentine’s Day like her, but the year is wrong. And, then, the height is wrong, the hair color is wrong, the driver’s license number isn’t the same, the address isn’t even in Angel Grove, and Kim’s convinced herself that this isn’t real.

Her hand shakes harder.

She looks up at the woman -- at _Kimberly_ \-- and opens her mouth, ready to come up with an excuse, something to help her believe that her life isn’t about to get weirder than it already is.

But, Kimberly is ready for her, and, gaze unwavering, speaks to life proof that Kim doesn’t want to hear.

“You know it’s real.”

That’s all she says. Kim would prefer something more tangible, something that she can’t refute, but she’s not that kind of person. This is how to get to her -- her heart, her emotions, her _gut_ that she makes almost all of her decisions with. Her stomach churns, but it’s not a “get the fuck out of here and _run_ ” feeling. It’s “I’m scared of what this means,” and she is.

She truly is.

 

* * *

 

She’s been through a lot -- that much Kimberly knows, even without her added knowledge of the news article and the whole sexting… incident. A heaviness rests on the girl’s shoulders, something she keeps to herself and only spills out when it gets too hard to bear alone.

Martyr is the word that first comes to mind, but that’s not right. The girl is harsher, more reckless, looking around blindly for the cause that she’d die for and taking it regardless of how dangerous it is.

A death seeker.

Yes, _that’s_ it.

Looking at her, now, though, Kimberly just sees barely subdued fear and something like paranoia. The girl tries hard to hide it behind a moody scowl, but it’s impossible to do so. Nobody’s told her, but Kimberly automatically knows the guarantee that comes with this. There will be no hiding from each other, not when they’re somehow connected.

“What’s she talking about, Kim?” Jason -- not her Jason, but he carries the same authoritative air as her Jason did -- asks, looking back and forth between the two of them. Leaderish is his posture, Kimberly notes, not exactly a leader; he’s still young and inexperienced, despite being relatively the same age as her when she became a Ranger.

Kim’s scowl deepens; her hand trembles as she wordlessly hands Kimberly’s license off to Jason. The other kids crowd around their leader, peering over his shoulder to see. Variants of “what the hell?” come from the other Rangers, and they all look back at Kimberly, asking too many questions with their eyes and mouths, none of them the right ones and none of which Kimberly answers.

Through all of this, Kimberly holds Kim’s gaze steadily, slightly impressed at how determined the girl is to not show her vulnerability. Kimberly herself has always worn her heart on her sleeve, but she admires that her counterpart -- doppelganger, whatever, there were probably plenty of other words to substitute, half of which she didn’t know -- has what seems to be a broody backbone.

“Who’s he?” Kim demands, nodding her chin at Tommy.

Beside Kimberly, Tommy shifts, hands in his pockets, but doesn’t speak. They’d already agreed to this beforehand, to only Kimberly talking so that things didn’t get too complicated too fast. With no knowledge of the situation at hand, of if these kids even _had_ a Green Ranger or if they’d ever _meet_ one, Tommy had agreed with his wife that it’d be best if she did most of the talking. Less confusion that way and less chance of letting something slip that could possibly harm or change the kids’ future.

“He’s my husband.”

Tommy gives a brief wave to which, unsurprisingly, none of the kids wave back. “Tommy Oliver.” he greets, briefly. Kim’s eyes narrow, and she takes a step back into the safety of standing between, presumably, Trini and Zack.

Kimberly would say she’s good at guessing who’s who (she feels familiar being around all of them, even if they’ve _just_ met), but honestly, Trini’s yellow beanie and Zack’s black jeans glaringly give it all away. The only thing she doesn’t get is Kim’s crimson hoodie and the yellow flannel underneath. Or the sweatpants, honestly. But, still, Kimberly already knows her counterpart by face and, technically, name.

“I still wanna know who you are,” Jason says, holding up Kimberly’s license, “because this explains absolutely _nothing_. Hell, it could be fake.”

“It’s not fake, though,” Billy chimes in, tapping Jason on the shoulder once; Jason’s shoulders sag slightly because he knows Billy’s right, “I know what a fake looks like; that’s not it.”

Thank God for Billy. Helping her out and he (probably) didn’t even mean to.

“Well,” Kimberly starts, tilting her head, “That’s what Tommy and I are trying to figure out about you kids because, when I lived here in Angel Grove, I had a group of friends, too… named Jason, Billy, Zack, and Trini.”

The kids are momentarily stunned into silence at this. In the silence, apparently, Kim finds her confidence and speaks up, shrugging, “Those are- those are common names, for the most part. Kinda.”

“Sure, but… just look at this.” Kimberly sighs and pulls her wallet out again, this time taking a photograph of her and the other four -- them, the originals -- at the youth center out. She holds it up to where all the Rangers can see it and waits. She knows it’s not the same, that she and Kim look somewhat alike in an unexplainable way that’s different from the others, but that’s not the feeling she’s searching for. What she wants them to acknowledge is that tugging deep down, that sense of _familiarity_ , like coming home after decades and finding that home hasn’t changed one bit.

She misses that feeling; Angel Grove has changed so much, but when Kimberly looks at the girl who shares her name, some of it comes back in inklings.

“We don’t- I’ve never seen any of these people in my life,” Jason states. His features, however, are clearly unsettled.

“I’ve only lived here for awhile,” Trini says, frowning deeply, “Never met any of ‘em at all.”

“You wouldn’t have,” Kimberly responds, “We all left a long time ago, got our own lives outside of Angel Grove. But, you felt something, right? You know them… on the inside.”

She hits the nail dead on the head; her words are enough to disturb the Rangers, and as a group, they all shift uncomfortably, giving each other nervous glances.

Kim speaks up again, “You want us to trust you based off of a _feeling_ ? Wha- what do you even _want_? With us?”

The moment of truth. Kimberly takes a deep breath; Tommy steps closer to her, placing his hand on the small of her back. “Back in ‘93, Angel Grove came under attack by an evil space witch… named Rita Repulsa.”

“She’s been here _before_?” Trini scowls, a fire in her eyes and her fists clenched at her sides. Kim lightly touches her wrist, and Trini (reluctantly) relaxes but only slightly.

Kimberly is quick to shake her head, though, “No, not… not your Rita. I’ve seen some of the photos and videos on Instagram and such. Most of it’s blurry, but I can tell that we’re not talking about the same woman.”

“ _Our_ Rita...” Zack echoes, “Was yours just as diabolical?”

“Sometimes.” Everything seems meaner in this… other world? Alternate universe? What other words would her Billy have for it? “But she never went on a killing spree and ripped gold out of people’s mouths.”

“But, she’s not here anymore, so… what happened to her?”

“The Power Rangers stopped her.” Kimberly says it with a tone of finality. She sees the effects instantly as all the kids nervously straighten then try to cover up their reactions. That’s enough to tell her all she needs to know. It’s not just a case of shared names (more than three is a trend, anyway). It _is_ them.

“Power Rangers? You mean those aliens that were in town, like, last week?” The faked curiosity in Kim’s voice would’ve thrown her, had she not used that exact tone of voice in her teens all the time. Everything is all too weird for her to _not_ be right about this.

“I mean Jason Scott, Billy Cranston, Zack Taylor, Trini Kwan, and me -- we became Power Rangers…” Kimberly pauses then takes the plunge, “Like you did.”

Jason’s the first to react, bursting out into laughter, “Are you saying--” He plays a good act as he gives the others a look of disbelief. To their credit, they fall into his act just as easily. Zack looks amused, chuckling alongside Jason, Billy confused, Trini like she’d rather be elsewhere, and Kim just sympathetic, like she pities the mind that came up with the incredulous claim just made about her.

“I’m sorry, Mrs… Hart,” Jason says, struggling to say her name in a context that he’s not used to, as he hands her license back to her. She takes it with a confidence that they’re not done here, that he _thinks_ he’s pulled off his act, but he hasn’t. “But, we’re not… Power Rangers or whatever. You’ve got the wrong kids.”

Kimberly smirks, her eyes challenging, “Oh? I didn’t think Zordon ever chose wrong.”

That gets their attention, and they all immediately sober up. “He didn’t- the _coins_ chose us.” Trini speaks up, suddenly, and Kim elbows her in the side, hissing “Be quiet” under her breath. “What does it matter, man?” Trini mutters back, “They already _know_. Somehow.”

“The coins… you mean, the power coins?”

Trini nods and pulls something out of her pocket, holding it up for Kimberly to see. It’s a… well, it’s a giant coin, sort of, easily almost as big as her hand. A yellow gem sits in the middle, surrounded by what looks to be a ring of rustic metal. Interesting. Nothing at all what her power coin looked like, but then again, this _definitely_ looks more alien.

“You’re here because you want to know why.” Billy squints at her in the dim light of the moon. He’s analyzing her, like her Billy would, and she knows because the look on his face is the same as her Billy’s thinking face. Kimberly stands still and lets him get his thoughts together. “Why this? Why another Rita? Why… another you? Because if there’s all of these _doubles_ , then… how long were you a Ranger?” He looks at Tommy, “Were _you_ a Ranger?”

Kimberly and Tommy exchange a side glance; they have to be careful what they tell the Rangers. He answers for her, “Kimberly was active for… two years, I think?”

“Yeah, I moved after a little while,” she supplies, “I wanted to go pro with gymnastics.”

“Must’ve been nice,” Kim mutters under her breath, her tone void of any kind of jest.

“And, yes, I was a Ranger. I wasn’t a part of the original team that Zordon chose, though, but I stayed for some time.” Tommy keeps it sweet and simple. Good.

“If there’s two of everything, then… you came because there’s more after Rita,” Billy says, nodding to himself like he’s pleased with the conclusion he’s come to.

Zack frowns, “Rita _did_ say more were coming after the- _ow!_ ” He rubs his arm as Kim cuts him off with a death grip.

“Shut up,” she whispers to Zack then looks at Kimberly and Tommy. “No offense, but we’re not saying anything more until after you’ve talked to Zordon.”

Kimberly shrugs, nodding understandingly, “No hard feelings. Trust has to be earned. I get that.”

"How," Trini cuts in, "did you find us? That's what I wanna know. Like… Angel Grove isn't anything special. I mean, besides the whole Power Rangers, evil space witch, and giant gold monster thing."

"Accident," Kimberly says, casually, "We were walking around and saw you guys through the window. Right place, right time." Not that she exactly believes in luck, but still. "As for how we found out  _about_ you, you two -- Jason Scott and Kimberly Hart -- are Angel Grove's biggest news on the Internet since sliced bread," she points at Jason and Kim, both of whom sheepishly avoid her eyes, then Billy, "your dad died in that mining accident, Billy Cranston -- my condolences, of course," to Zack, "which makes you Zack Taylor," and to Trini, "and you're Trini- I don't think I know your last name... _Is_ it Kwan?"

Trini smirks and crosses her arms in a sort of challenging way but doesn't make a move to help Kimberly out.

Ah, the sassy one.

Jason glances around in thought, “Hey, it’s getting late and we still have school tomorrow…” Zack mutters something under his breath, and Jason rolls his eyes. “No, we’re _not_ gonna skip. You have a math test.” Then, to Kimberly, “Can you come back here tomorrow at 4? We’ll take you to Zordon. Oh, and, uh, bring… scuba gear. There’s a couple of shops in town that sell that.”

“Scuba gear?”

“You’ll get a bit wet.”

“Alright, yeah, we can do that.”

Kimberly holds out her hand; Jason shakes it, firmly, with the expected strong grip of an athlete. “Tomorrow, then,” he repeats. It’s like a closer, a confirmation that this is real. When he lets go of her hand, it tingles, slightly, not out of pain, but just oddly.

She looks at Kim, hand outstretched. The girl eyes her hand warily. “I know this must be weird, but… I’m not gonna bite. I promise.” There’s a moment of pause, of Kim thinking it over in her head, and then, she nods, reaches forward, shakes Kimberly’s hand once, and quickly pulls away.

As their hands part, a spark, bright and pink, buzzes between their fingertips, the only sound in the dead of the night, before fizzling into the air. Kimberly’s hand abruptly goes numb, and she clenches it into a fist, trying to regain some feeling in it. Weird, but _very_ interesting.

Kim’s eyes widen, and she hastily shoves her hands into her pockets, stepping back so fast that she bumps into Trini, who steadies her.

Nobody wants to speak first, so Zack breaks the silence, “That was _cool_.” Kim shoots him a wordless glare.

The tough facade is back up again as Kim’s face goes blank with faked nonchalance. “See you guys tomorrow.” She turns on her heel and stalks off in the direction the kids came from, shoulders hunched and hands in her pockets.

Well, that’s that, then.

Jason frowns after his friend and smiles apologetically at Kimberly and Tommy, “Sorry about that. She’s… going through some stuff. This is just weirding her and all of us out.”

“Of course, I understand.” Kimberly nods, and she really does mean it. They definitely haven’t had the same lives, but she knows what it’s like to be Kimberly Hart and when she looks at Kim, she feels like she knows the girl more than anyone else she’s ever met.

 

* * *

 

It’s only when Kim makes it to her car that she realizes Jason’s the one who has the keys, and she’s forced to stand there, leaning against her own car, keyless, until the others come back. She sees Kimberly and Tommy approaching the entrance gate and makes herself look as casual and nonchalant as she can, but she’s sure it doesn’t really work in front of Kimberly. Every time the woman looks at her, it’s like those eyes are cutting through her soul. Creepy.

Tommy nods at her as he unlocks his Jeep and gets in, starting up the engine; Kimberly lingers outside, though, wringing her hands together and obviously looking like she wants to say something.

“Jason said you were going through some stuff, and I just…” Kimberly shrugs, dropping her hands at her side, “You can talk to me. I know you don’t know me that well, but.” She just stops and leaves it there.

Kim bites the inside of her cheek and keeps her eyes focused very intensely on one of the Jeep’s back tires, studying the dirt and mud in the grooves. “But you do,” she replies, “know me that well, and that’s how you can relate. And I know you, too. I know you don’t have kids but that you work super well with them. I know that you’re a heart-over-head kind of person and that emotions get to you easily. I know that you give your everything to what you do and that… you wouldn’t be here if this didn’t mean something to you. It’s not just curiosity -- _well_ , maybe that’s part of it -- but you… you want to help us.”

Nodding, Kimberly takes a step closer. “I do wanna help,” she says, softly. She reaches out, putting a hand on Kim’s arm.

Kim shivers at the touch, feeling her arm tingle and go faintly numb at the point of contact.

“I- My parents are getting divorced,” she breathes out, quickly like ripping off a bandaid, in a single huff. It’s weird and maybe kind of stupid, but she finds it easier to say to Kimberly than she had earlier with the others. Maybe it was the environment. Or the context or the circumstances. Or something.

Kimberly inhales sharply and gives her arm a gentle, reassuring squeeze.

Maybe _this_ is that something.

“I remember what that’s like,” Kimberly says, her tone edged with a certain all-too-familiar sadness that makes Kim want to meet her eyes because it sounds _so_ much like her hours ago, but when she looks, Kimberly’s staring at the ground.

The pressure on her arm disappears; Kim doesn’t miss the brief flash of a spark that passes between them again as Kimberly’s hand leaves the sleeve of her hoodie. She rubs her arm, pressing hard with her thumb to force some sensation back into her muscles.

“We don’t have to talk about it now,” Kimberly continues, giving her a small smile of comfort, “but Tommy and I have planned to stay here for… a little while, so. I’ll be around if you want to talk.”

Kim just mumbles out a short “Yeah, okay.”

Then, Kimberly’s opening the side door of Tommy’s Jeep and getting inside with a grace that Kim recognizes as a past gymnast’s (because it’s _hers_ ), and then, they’re both gone, reversing and driving off into the distance, back into town.

 

* * *

 

Her thoughts are going a million miles an hour; there’s no way to shut them up. She sighs and buries her face into Trini’s shoulder as awkwardly uncomfortable as it feels for them in her cramped sedan, but the other girl doesn’t complain.

Another Kimberly Hart who was also chosen to be a Power Ranger. Another Kimberly Hart, a woman who kinda looks like her but isn’t her, a woman who made it out of Angel Grove and pursued professional gymnastics. Another Kimberly Hart whose parents are divorced, who knows what this crippling hopelessness inside of her chest feels like. Another Kimberly Hart who’s happily married to a Tommy Oliver.

Kim wonders what that says about her future, if it means anything at all or if she’s damn stuck here until she dies defending Angel Grove from its next big threat or something.

 

* * *

 

The others are reluctant to leave her once Jason pulls into her driveway; her father’s SUV also in the driveway, and a few lights are on in the house, most notably, Kim can see, the kitchen’s. But, she shrugs off their concerns with a shake of her head, takes her keys back from Jason, and gives each one of them a tight hug (excluding Billy, who she just taps twice on the shoulder with two fingers and he accepts that with a beaming smile that has her heart clenching) before heading inside.

Her dad is sitting on the living room couch watching TV when she walks in, the front door directly in his line of sight.

“Hey, sweetie, where were you?”

Kim makes a noncommittal grunt of response and just says “Out with friends.”

She toes off her shoes next to the welcome mat and then stops, standing there and staring at her father. His feet casually propped up on the dining table in the way that she knows her mom would’ve been prodding him about, had she been home. He just looks so casual, so normal, like their whole world didn’t just crash down around them.

Kim opens her mouth, wanting to say _something_ , wanting to start a shouting match over Sunday and why she had to drag herself to church only to find that neither of her parents showed up, why all of this fucking shit has to happen, but nothing comes out.

Her dad looks at her, his eyebrows raised, “Yes?”

No, she doesn’t have the energy to be mad. Everything’s just so damn exhausting, and she’s fucking tired right now. So, that’s what she says. “Nothing. I’m going to bed. Night.” Kim trudges to the stairs and slowly drags herself up to her room, pausing several times to just _breathe_ and gather more energy to make it up the next two or whatever steps.

Kim liked it better weeks ago when her worst problem was her parents yelling at her for chopping off more than half of her hair.

In her room, she closes the door and leans against the handle, trembling. Her phone beeps in her pocket, and Kim takes it out, squinting at the grossly bright screen in the pitch darkness of her room.

_[T 11:32 PM] hey how u feeling?_

With slow fingers and tired eyes, Kim types out a response.

_[KH 11:34 PM] eh. could be better. also still have ur shirt._

_[T 11:34 PM] u can borrow it i’ve got more at home_

_[T 11:35 PM] lmk if u need anything ok? im heading to bed_

She stares at the words on her screen, her throat going dry, hand closing around her phone in a tight grip. _I need you_ , she types but erases it right after finishing the sentence. Trini's offer is genuine, and Kim knows her friend would come immediately if called but... she doesn't feel up to more than one grand heart-to-heart per day. Forcing herself to relax before she snaps her phone in half or something (it’d be the third this month and she’s running out of excuses), Kim responds with a simple _thanks_ and _goodnight_ before plugging her phone in to charge for the night. With that, she collapses on her bed, not bothering to take off her clothes or even slip under the covers.

Tomorrow would be a new day, but at least, it wouldn’t be the same shit as always. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not accepting Kwan as Trini's surname but I don't wanna choose one, so that's the placeholder I stick. If something becomes canon, I'm def going back and changing it. I know Patrick Sabongui said he was playing Mr. Kwan, but Becky G said Trini's surname _wasn't_ Kwan, so. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ 
> 
> hit me up @pathfinderofhyperion on tumblr if u wanna chat power geeks or w/e


	5. Polar Plunge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After an odd turn of events the previous night, the Rangers make plans to introduce Kimberly and Tommy to their Zordon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy birthday (it's someone's birthday somewhere), trini's uber gay. you're welcome.
> 
> also, thank y'all so much for being so wonderfully receptive, positive, and sweet as you guys are reading! i love u all lots even if we don't know each other. i appreciate you, and your fanship (idk if that's the right word) always makes my day.

Trini’s mornings start with sneaking out of the house before her family wakes up. She never has breakfast with them anymore, hardly has since their last move. It’s an issue that her mom tries to bring up at the table frequently, but Trini’s mastered the art of dodging her mom’s interrogations with sarcasm and evasion.

She hates having breakfast at school (and as much as she hates eating with her family, her mom could still make enchiladas better than the knockoff cafeteria crap in her sleep with an arm tied behind her back) but Kimberly Hart makes the shitty food worth it all.

After a short detour through the quarry for no reason other than to just appreciate Angel Grove before it wakes up, Trini runs as fast as her lungs will let her to school, skidding to a stop a few blocks away so that she doesn’t look suspicious to the buses pulling up. When she enters the cafeteria, Trini immediately spots Kim sitting at the same table they’d eaten breakfast at yesterday, her gaze focused on her food. However, like magic or, like, the Ranger bond or… whatever, the moment Trini even _thinks_ about her, Kim looks up from her food and straight (ha) at her.

Trini notices with a skip of her heart that Kim’s still wearing her shirt from yesterday, and while she’s never had someone borrow her clothes (it doesn’t exactly work very well when most, if not all, of the zero friends she’s ever had were significantly taller than her), it’s definitely… a sight.

Hot damn, Kim looks _good_ in yellow.

Kim flashes her a small smile, and Trini runs straight into another kid walking to the breakfast line, flushing a deep red and mumbling a sincere “Shit, sorry, man.”

Trini manages to make it through the line without any other incidents -- having her back to Kim helps _tremendously_ \-- and carries her tray to Kim’s table, falling into her seat with her usual nonchalance.

“Hey, princess.”

“Hey yourself.”

Up close, she can see that Kim’s sporting new bags under her eyes, and her heart twists.

“You doing alright?” she asks, shoveling a spoonful of eggs into her mouth. Kim raises an amused eyebrow at her table manners, breaking out into a smile; Trini has to remind herself to keep chewing.

“Eh. Could be better.” Kim shrugs, focusing on cutting her waffle into four even slices. Trini follows the action with her eyes but then finds that looking at Kim’s plate also means seeing the way Kim has the top two buttons loose on her shirt -- _Trini’s_ shirt; she screams in her mind and tears her eyes away from staring too hormonally at Kim’s beautiful, so beautiful bronze skin.

Trini sits up straighter and leans forward, propping her elbows on the table, “You said that last night, Kim.” Soft concern frames her voice; obviously, Trini can easily count all of the things that could be bothering Kim on one hand, and then, there’s the problems she doesn’t know about -- the ones Kim hides to herself when she says stuff like “could be better.” But, she’s not going to just play the guessing game and risk pissing Kim off or having her shut down; that’s _kinda_ Trini’s thing, and she takes pride in it. “You can talk to me. If you want to.”

Kim takes a bite of her waffle, munching thoughtfully. Moments pass in silence as Trini just waits -- she’s always been particularly patient, which came with the whole staying-invisible thing -- and Kim keeps chewing, probably sorting out her words in her head.

The first thing Kim says, though, isn’t at all what Trini expected it to be.

“What if I’m, like, in my 30s and I’m married to some goatee-sporting dude named Tommy Oliver who kinda looks like he’d offer me second-rate weed in the back of a dingy New York alleyway?”

Trini coughs at that, her laugh getting stuck in her throat; Kim giggles at her struggle to catch her breath, and for a moment, Trini forgets the shit that’s going on in Kim’s head in the magical sound of her amusement. But, just for a moment.

“ _That’s_ what you choose to worry about first?” she gives Kim an incredulous look and gets a shrug in response, “Dude, that’s like saying, ‘my problems include my house being burned down, the moon getting hit by an asteroid and crashing into the Earth, and Target being out of Oreos.’”

Kim raises an eyebrow and says with a straight face, “Okay, but what _kind_ of Oreos? Because if I’m about to die in the apocalypse, I’d like to die happy and full.”

“Uh… the double stuffed ones?”

“Oh, _yeah_ , no contest,” Kim says, shaking her head and smiling, “The apocalypse just doesn’t work if I die without enjoying my last double stuffed Oreo.”

There’s a small list of things Trini wouldn’t want to die during the apocalypse without experiencing. Kissing Kimberly Hart while she’s grinning as radiant as the sun is kinda one of them.

“What about going through the apocalypse with goatee-sporting, second-rate weed dealer Tommy Oliver, then?”

Kim sobers up quick at that, frowning and poking at another waffle slice. “Nah. I mean, what if Zack was right and they’re from the future?” she wonders, quietly, “And, like, that’s my life in a decade or two? I don’t… I dunno, I don’t want to know my future like that. It creeps me out.”

Ah, _that’s_ the problem. “I don’t believe the future’s set in stone,” Trini responds, softly, “You and, uh, the other Kimberly are already pretty different, you know, so I’ll take the chance that your life isn’t gonna turn out the same as hers.”

“Yeah, but, I mean, it begs the question… like, after Barry finds out that he’s gonna marry Iris in the future, you just gotta wonder if every relationship he’s in after is, like, colored with that knowledge.”

“What the _hell_ are you talking about?”

Kim smacks the table with her palm then sheepishly frowns at the crack that appears; Trini snorts, “ _Dude_ , you _have_ to watch _The Flash!_ ”

Trini rolls her eyes, “I’ll pass. Besides, my parents never gave me our Netflix password. It just ‘gives me more reason to not go outside and make friends.’” She makes air quotes with her fingers and sighs exasperatedly.

“Oh, no, not the _outdoors_ ,” Kim clutches a hand to her chest and fakes offense then relaxes, “I could give you access to the family account. My parents don’t really… have time to use it too much anymore. Or, like, we could chill in my room and watch on my laptop.”

Trini would be lying if she said she didn’t shiver at the thought of crowding together on Kim’s bed under Kim’s blankets that smell like her body wash and-

Well, she’s _definitely_ gay.

“You’re worried that the decisions you make from here on out won’t be your own anymore,” she says once they’ve both settled back into the serious atmosphere.

Kim nods, absently, her head bobbing, “Yeah… like, if I decide to do or not do something, is it because _I_ actually want that… or is it because I’m aware of the results in the other Kimberly’s life? Like, I don’t know, if Bruce Wayne met his future self and found out that his parents were gonna die and he still decides to go to the theatre with them, is that his free will or is he doing it because he knows it’s gonna happen anyway?”

“Are you high off from that second-rate, back-alley weed? ‘Cause, honestly, I swear to you, Kim, it’s probably _way_ less complicated than you’re making it out to be.”

Trini watches Kim clasp her hands together, pressing her lips to her knuckles and contemplating. Briefly, she indulges in the thought of taking Kim’s hands and kissing those same knuckles, but that would be… highly inappropriate. And mushy and gross.

“The future isn’t set in stone,” Kim echoes her words from before, her eyes unfocused, staring off into some space that Trini can’t pinpoint.

“Yeah, it isn’t.” she leans back in her seat, crossing her legs, satisfied with all the closeness she’s participated less than two hours since waking up (her quota’s _already_ filled, now, so it gives Trini an excuse to be grumpy and not touchy the rest of the day). “You’re Kimberly Hart, and you can write your own destiny,” she says, simply.

Kim blinks, and the look on her face makes it seem like Trini just revealed all the answers to the universe to her. Which, if she actually _had_ those answers, then she wouldn’t be stuck in this hellhole of a school. “I write my own destiny,” Kim repeats.

She’s watching something happen right now, something amazing, but it’s a soft kind of miracle, not a loud, flashy bang. Trini can sense it, a small weight being lifted off of Kim’s shoulders in the validation of her own autonomy and free will. A sort of peace settles onto Kim’s features; it looks like the most beautiful thing Trini’s seen in the past year.

Kim catches her staring, and the moment’s shattered. Trini glances away and pretends to look at some of the kids sitting at a nearby table. When she looks back, Kim’s gone back to her food.

“I think my destiny lies in finishing this waffle,” Kim jokes, cracking a grin.

Trini can’t help the smile that works its way onto her face at that. They’re standing on the edge of normal again, about to fall back into some pit of weird (it’d make sense, at least, and she wouldn’t be surprised if some weird shit starts happening after Kimberly and Tommy get settled in town). But, at the very least, this is the first full meal she’s seen Kim eat this week, and that means something good.

 

* * *

 

Kim opens her locker, throwing her stats textbook in, and when she closes the locker door, Zack is leaning against the lockers next to her, his arms crossed and a bright grin plastered on his face.

Instinctively, Kim just bites out, flatly, “Whatever it is, no.” The _last_ time she had seen that look on Zack’s face, he and Trini (who had seemed pretty disgruntled to have ended up as his accomplice) ended up having detention for the rest of the year with her, Jason, and Billy.

Zack opens his mouth in offense, “Um, excuse _me_ , you didn’t even let me start!”

She raises an eyebrow and shoulders her bag, pointing down the hallway, “I’m going this way.” When she turns, Zack follows her, bumping her shoulder with his (but, given their height difference, it’s more like his arm with her shoulder).

“Alright, so, you can totally say no--” Kim chuckles and Zack holds up a finger to stop her, “when you’ve actually let me _speak_.”

“Let’s hear it, then. What’s up?”

“I’ll tell you more tonight, but I have some ideas for how you can spend your nights. You know, instead of wallowing in Netflix in your lair of darkness.”

Kim rolls her eyes, but inside, her chest warms with fuzzies, “Yeah? And what makes you think I’d enjoy spending time with you more than with Grey’s Anatomy?”

“Uh, because Derek Shepherd’s got nothing on the Zack-man, _obviously._ Everyone loves superheroes more.”

The two-minute bell rings, cutting off whatever bantering jab Kim has on the tip of her tongue about Zack calling himself “the Zack-man.”

“Well,” Kim says, waving him off, “the _Zack-man_ should go to class because, superhero or not, the science hall is still on the other side of campus.”

The eyebrow waggle he gives her in response as he retreats in the opposite direction has Kim yelling after him, “Don’t you _dare_ run!” and ignoring the weird glances the kids down the hallway shoot at her.

 

* * *

 

By lunch, Kim’s retreated back into her shell, tired out about hearing about the English paper due next Monday and dreading actually having to read The Great Gatsby for what feels like the hundredth time in her life. Juggling being a small-town superhero, school, and having depression could’ve _at least_ come with a disclaimer warning. And, ironically, they haven’t even fought anything since Rita, and their only morphs have been during training and to settle public unease by helping out the disaster relief camps in the park. (Not to mention that that’s all _without_ adding in her parents’ divorce and the whole other-Kimberly-Hart thing.)

Although, now that she thinks about it, Kim’s pretty sure she just jinxed them.

“Hey, that spark thing last night,” Billy asks her in between bites of his burger as she sits down at their table, “Did it hurt?”

Kim shrugs, “No, not really. I don’t know, it was kinda weird. Not like an electric shock, but it was, like, numbing.”

Beside her, Zack chuckles, “I’d go numb if a woman who was that smokin’ touched me, too.”

The other Rangers make varying noises of exasperation; Kim groans and picks up her fork, pointing it at Zack, “That’s _weird_ and kinda gross. First, she’s old enough to be our mom. Second, that’s _basically_ me you’re hitting on.”

“Exactly.” Zack winks and shoots her a finger gun.

She knows he’s joking -- alternately, she kinda hopes he isn’t -- and her eye roll is fake, but her smile and the heat she feels in her ears as she looks down at her food is _very_ real.

Trini speaks up, “What if Zordon doesn’t trust them? Like, what if they’re just trying to get past us to get to the ship or the Zeo Crystal?” Trini looks at her, nodding, “What’re your thoughts, princess? You’re the one with the doppelganger. Clone, future self, whatever.”

“Uh,” Kim shrugs, “I don’t know, I mean, I don’t _trust_ them, not yet. But, like, they didn’t seem off to me. And, technically, you guys do, too. They’re just… not here.”

Jason gets his game-plan face on, the one Kim knows he’s half-faking because he still sorta has no idea what he’s doing, “So, if they turn on us, what’re we gonna do? Run them out of town?”

“We’ve never really fought, like, people before.” Kim comments, stabbing her fork into her spaghetti. The thought unsettles her, even more so that Kimberly and Tommy used to be Rangers as well (and if they still have the same capabilities they had as Rangers is a pretty good concern).

“Person. We’ve fought one person, a monster made out of gold, and multiple rock things,” Trini mutters, “and, _technically_ , Rita was an alien, so not even human.”

“I guess that means we’d definitely have an advantage, then,” Zack says, “It’s five against two, _and_ we can morph now.”

Billy holds up a hand, “Can we stop with all the fighting talk? We’re gonna get all the answers we want in a few hours… and hopefully with no fighting.”

Jason nods, patting Billy gently on the shoulder, “Yeah, buddy, we’ll stop. It’s just good to have a back-up plan. Just in case.”

That “just in case” stays with Kim the rest of the day, edging her slightly more and more into anxiety as she goes through the rest of her classes after lunch. It ends up making her snap her pencil in half during statistics, and she avoids a confused look from the kid next to her. By the time the school day’s over, Kim’s bristling with restlessness.

 

* * *

 

When Kimberly and Tommy arrive at the same meeting place as last night, the kids are already there. Both of them each have an armful of diving gear, Jason himself is holding two rather long coils of rope that she’d expect to see for mountain-climbing, and Kimberly’s _really_ interested to know how all of this comes into play now.

“You showed,” Trini comments, her blank face hiding her surprise but her voice giving it all away; Kimberly figures that’s about as close to an actual greeting she’ll get out of the girl, and that’s honestly better than nothing.

“Of course, we did,” she replies, and the softness of her own voice catches her off-guard. Suddenly, she’s decades in the past, saying goodbye to three of her best friends as they leave for a peace conference that never really gave _her_ any peace, and there’s an aching in her heart as she attends a funeral with two of those friends years later.

_“You showed,” Jason had said, a hint of surprise in his voice, like he wasn’t sure they’d have space in their schedules to grace him an appearance. It’d been a long time since they’d been too close, since Maligore and almost defeating the Turbo Rangers. They’d gone their separate ways; she had lost contact with Tommy again and Jason shortly after, but when she got the call from Zack, there’d been nothing else on her mind except for when the next flight to Angel Grove was._

_“Of course, we did,” had been her response because it would never matter what was going on in her life. She would never not drop everything for something as hard as this -- a death of not just another Ranger, but a_ **_friend_ ** _._

Fingers snapping in front of her face brings Kimberly out of her trip down memory lane, and she blinks, brushing off the look of concern on Tommy’s face. “I’m fine,” she lies, “Just spaced out for a second.” She thinks she hears the other Kim mutter something under her breath like “relatable,” but they’re standing too far apart to catch clearly.

The kids are all staring at her; it makes Kimberly feel fifty different degrees of shy and embarrassed, so she just focuses on Jason. “So, where’s Zordon?”

“How good are you at climbing?” is his response.

Oh, _this’ll_ be fun.

Fifteen minutes later, Kimberly’s discovered that climbing up the quarry _looks_ a lot easier than it actually is, and she mentally sends a grateful prayer to Jason and Zack for taking her and Tommy’s gear as they easily scaled the cliff in minutes flat. Slightly below her, Tommy struggles the same as her.

“Doing okay, babe?” she calls down to him, eyes darting around for the next safe handhold above her.

“Uh, sure,” is his hesitant response, “But I’m kinda regretting spending the last decade being… lazy and not being as active as I could’ve been.”

Once Kimberly finds a good handhold and pulls herself up a little higher, making sure that she’s stable before she looks over her shoulder- _whoa,_ that’s really fucking high.

Tommy’s eyes meet hers, and she flashes him a coy smile, “Why don’t you enjoy the view from down there? I’m sure you won’t feel so lazy, then.”

Up at the top, she hears someone -- Kim, she thinks -- shout, “Ugh, _gross_ , stop flirting and hurry up!”

Kimberly makes her way to the top relatively easily or, at least, that’s what she’ll admit to, but she’s severely out of breath when she grabs Kim’s hand at the top and is helpfully hoisted over the edge. Once her whole body is safely on flat land, Kimberly collapses on her back, squinting against the sunlight glaring into her eyes. Her entire hand is numb where Kim gripped it, but honestly, she wouldn’t be able to tell the difference since her legs kinda feel like jelly.

She doesn’t see him, but she hears Tommy’s labored breathing and a grunt of effort from Jason and, then, Tommy’s laying down next to her, coughing once.

Billy’s upside-down face swims into her view. “I thought you two used to be Power Rangers,” he asks. It’s not a condescending question -- from anyone else, it would be, but from Billy, it’s not.

“Yeah, well--” Kimberly huffs and rolls over, stumbling to her feet and (not very gracefully or helpfully, unfortunately) dragging Tommy up with her by his shirt sleeve, “we didn’t have fancy superpowers like you guys do. I would’ve _loved_ to be able to climb half as fast as you guys.”

A familiar weight presses against her back as Tommy wraps his arms around her waist, placing a gentle kiss above her ear. “Thanks for the motivation,” he whispers, out of earshot of the Rangers.

Kimberly giggles, her grin only getting more amused as she sees the kids’ reaction. The boys awkwardly avert their gazes, Trini rolls her eyes what looks to be hard enough to see stars, and Kim’s scowl is utterly comical.

“I’m thoroughly disgusted,” Kim drawls, “It’s like _you’re_ the teenager here.”

“What, I’m not allowed to have some fun with my husband?” Kimberly fakes a pout, but she removes Tommy’s hands from around her waist, linking their hands in a significantly less suggestive manner. “Save it for the hotel, cowboy,” she whispers back, shooting him a sly wink.

“Uh, no. Not when you’re _also_ me because that’s awkward and a _little_ bit unsettling.” Kim rolls her eyes and turns on her heel, marching off further into the quarry, “C’mon. Try to keep up.”

And, so they go on, Kimberly and Tommy taking their gear back and following the kids until they reach a wide ravine. Kimberly peers over the edge, Tommy’s hand holding onto hers tightly as she takes a peek. “Damn,” she whistles, lowly, “That’s a long drop.”

There’s a _clank_ as Jason drops the ropes he’s carrying onto the ground and starts untangling the coils. “Yeah,” he says, “that’s what the rope and scuba stuff is for.” He glances around, holding one end of a rope with a hook on it and looking for a stable place to root it down. A tree isn’t too far off from the edge of the ravine, so Jason trudges over to it, throwing the hook at one of the thicker branches with a quarterback’s arm, where it precisely loops around the branch a few times. He tugs on the rope, gently, and turns, giving Kimberly a shit-eating grin before working on the other one, “You’re gonna take a dive today.”

Oh, boy.

“We’re jumping… down there?” Kimberly isn’t afraid of heights whatsoever, with her extensive background in gymnastics and years of looking down from the cockpit of quite a few flying Zords and all, but there’s still a slight hint of reluctance and nervousness in her voice. After all, this is the unknown, and what she doesn’t know can be, well, dangerous. And unknown.

“Yeah. You scared, _princess_?” Trini asks, a challenging eyebrow raised and a smirk plastered on her lips; beside her, Kim smacks her arm and leans over, whispering something into her ear that Kimberly can’t make out.

Kimberly kinda wants to just take a spontaneous, impulsive dive into the ravine, now, just to wipe that smug look off of Trini Not-Kwan’s face. It wouldn’t be wise at all, but she’s had a few competitive streaks in her lifetime, some spurred on by boasty challenges alone. She can be feisty when she wants to be.

“It’s actually not that bad,” Billy chimes in, smiling at Kimberly and Tommy, “There’s this big… lake thing at the bottom. That’s what the scuba gear is for.” He nods, encouragingly.

“ _Dude_ , don’t give them spoilers!” She doesn’t know the boy very well (or at all), but Kimberly still finds herself chuckling at Zack’s comment. His humor tickles the back of her mind like a faint impression from long ago. It’s… heartwarming sorta.

“Hey, it’s pretty easy to figure out what all this gear’s for,” Tommy says, amused, “I mean, I’m not Dr. Oliver for nothing.”

That’s definitely a surprise the kids probably weren’t expecting.

“ _You’re_ a doctor?” Trini, her eyes wide like they’re playing a joke on her.

“Of _what_?” Kim snorts, something about that question inherently funny to her that she shoots a glance at Trini and they both break out in giggles, much to the boys’ confusion.

“Of what?” Billy asks with actual interest in his voice.

“Dinosaurs,” Kimberly responds the same time as Tommy says, “Paleontology.”

“Same thing,” she continues, shrugging, “Fossils, but Tommy’s mostly interested in _dinosaur_ fossils. For reasons you can probably guess.”

“Being a Ranger definitely leaves an impact.” Tommy explains with a chuckle, grabbing his wetsuit and starting the process of putting all his gear on.

Long minutes later, Kimberly’s getting deja vu that she’d rather forget as she checks over all of the things strapped to her body, making sure that she’s properly connected to her oxygen tank and all that. Jason approaches her, the climbing rope in his hands, and mumbles an “excuse me” as he leans forward and hooks the rope to her harness with a carabiner, tests it for stability, then moves onto Tommy.

Well, her last scuba diving trip didn’t turn out too well.

Her eyes meet Tommy’s from behind her mask; he reads and voices her thoughts aloud easily as Jason works on getting him situated. “Let’s hope this turns out better than that.”

“Better than what?” Jason questions, straightening up and looking between the couple.

“Uh, last time I went scuba diving,” Kimberly draws out, slowly, “I… got thrown into a pit of lava and may or may not have ended up becoming an evil minion of an ancient lava demon.”

Kim’s eyes widen, and she tenses, defensively, “But, you’re better, now, right? _Right_?”

It must be the years of theatre she took in high school and improv she did, but impulsivity hits her like a brick and she automatically drops her voice into a snarl, hunching her shoulders predatorily, “ _Wrong_ , Pink Ranger… Maligore’s been waiting a _long_ time for this. And so have I.”

The look of terror on Kim’s face bakes the cake so much that Kimberly immediately bursts into laughter, doubling over and clutching her sides.

“ _Shit_ ,” Trini breathes out, pointing an accusatory finger at Kimberly, “I was ready to morph and kick you over the edge for a sec there.”

Kim’s eyes are closed, her hand over her supposedly pounding heart, and her lips are silently counting to ten. When she opens her eyes, her so-done scowl could freeze Goldar in his tracks. “Jesus Christ, that was _really_ convincing. You happy?”

Kimberly chuckles and winks at her, “Yeah, I’ve had my fun.”

Rolling her eyes, Kim huffs and walks past her to the the ravine, “Alright, then, it’s time for us to have ours. Catch you on the flip side.” With a crisp salute, she does a backward dive over the edge, her form pretty much perfect as if she’d been doing it for ages. There’s no sound for a few seconds, and then, distantly, Kimberly hears the echo of a splash.

She remembers going skydiving with the gang decades ago. _Catch you on the flip side._ That’s what she’d said before jumping out of the plane. “Great minds think alike, huh,” she murmurs to herself, smiling.

Zack and Trini are next. They exchange a fist bump, smiles bright, and then, Zack is leaping off the edge, arms and legs splayed wide, whooping and hollering much like the Zack she knows would probably be like in the same situation. Trini goes for a canonball, letting out a cheer as her small form disappears from sight.

After them, Billy peers over the edge, waves at Kimberly and Tommy endearingly, and then jumps and drops like a brick, his arms and legs close to his sides.

Jason taps Kimberly on the shoulder, “You two are up next; I’ll go down last, make sure that the ropes hold.”

“Oh, boy,” Kimberly whispers under her breath, stepping up to the ravine. She wasn’t nervous before, but now, she’s tingling all over. Her knees shake and vaguely knock together; Tommy’s hand slips into hers, and he squeezes once.

“Ready?” he asks.

“Uh, nope. Not really. Not at all.” Her words tumble out all at once. A shiver goes through her.

Kimberly can’t see much, but she can slightly make out the sounds of the other kids at the bottom, shouting at each other.

She lets go of Tommy’s hand and shoots him a nervous grin, “See you down there, babe.”

Then, she jumps, free as a bird.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> can u tell i've never even touched diving gear before? /shrug emoji
> 
> this was a filler chapter, i'm sorry, the Real Stuff(tm) until next time, kiddos


	6. Gold Rush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kimberly and Tommy look for answers from Zordon while the Rangers handle a wave of reanimated Putties.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading and commenting; chapter 6 is finally here, and it's the longest one I've written yet! Updates will, unfortunately, be slower (than they already are lol) because I have finals soon. Or, alternately, if I'm over here posting chapters like crazy, tell me to get off of AO3 and start studying otherwise I'll probs fail my classes.
> 
> (Camp NaNoWriMo April 2017 is over, and I'm proud to say that, with this fic as my Camp project, I finished my goal of 20k+ words! Which, honestly, is astounding because I haven't written this much fic since Person of Interest S5, and we're not talking about that. So, I'm really glad y'all are enjoying the ride because your enthusiasm makes this possible.)

As her body hits the water, Kimberly lets out a scream, tensing up from how _freezing_ it is. There’s a brief tug on the rope looped around her harness, Jason making sure that her weight is holding. Kimberly simply lets herself float in the water for a few moments, letting the water seep into her bones. It warms her up in some odd, absolutely polarizing way. Feet away from her, the current shifts as Tommy dives under the surface like a rocket, and after him, she sees Jason a little further off, coming in with a splash that she can’t hear.

She breaks the surface at the same time as Tommy, gasping for air through her snorkel.

The kids are all treading water easily, like they’ve done this before (they definitely have if this is their secret lair); Jason points at her and Tommy, “I’ll take Tommy; Kim, you take, uh, Kimberly. Stick close to us and you’ll be fine.”

Right on cue, Kim swims over to her, holding out a hand, “You ready?”

She knows the girl can’t see it through her breath mask, but Kimberly raises an eyebrow anyway. “You’re not leading us into some death cave at the bottom of the sea or something, are you?” She grabs Kim’s hand and holds on tightly.

Kim chuckles, “Nah, it’s something _much_ cooler.” She slips underneath the water, so Kimberly follows.

It’s darker as they swim down. There’s nothing but the deep blue of the water, slivers of light shining from the sky above, and the shapes of the others as they go further into the deep. Kimberly catches a glint of _something_ , something that her brain registers as abnormal. The water below them, where Kim’s leading her to by the hand, looks distorted.

As Kimberly swims closer, squinting through her mask, she sees it. The reflection is blurry, but it’s simple to see. Something is _beyond_ the water, and the reflective mirage she sees in front of her is just that -- a front for the purpose of hiding something.

Kim tugs on Kimberly’s hand and, with her free hand, pushes straight through the watery mirage. Well. Kimberly takes that as her cue to do the same and hesitantly reaches out, fingers breaking the surface slowly at first.

When her elbow is past the surface and the water comes up (down?) to her ears and all she sees is an upside-down view of rocky walls, gravity catches up with her. She loses hold of Kim’s hand and flips over herself, crashing to the ground below with an audible (and ugly) _thump_ on her stomach. “Fuck,” Kimberly mutters, body already aching and hand _incredibly_ numb to boot. She rips off her mask and snorkel, looking up to see Kim land unsteadily -- but, nevertheless, properly -- on both feet, only stumbling once. Kim notices her staring and smirks proudly.

There’s several yells as the water’s surface breaks again, splashing both Kimberly’s, and Tommy crashes feet away from Kimberly, his breath knocked out of his lungs, Jason lands on his back, and Zack follows straight on top of him. Ouch. Trini appears with a high-pitched scream, saving her fall with a roll, and recovers just in time to help Billy, who comes sliding ungracefully down one of the rocky walls, to his feet.

Kimberly pushes herself upright and starts stripping off her gear, grumbling under her breath as she makes sure that nothing -- _especially_ the oxygen tank -- didn’t break during the fall. “You could’ve warned us,” she says as she struggles out of her wetsuit.

“I don’t think there’s really any kind of warning for that, though,” Tommy comments, checking his gear in the same manner.

Trini shrugs, “We didn’t have a warning the first time, either.” There’s a light hint of smug sass in her voice; Kimberly’s close to rolling her eyes at it.

“Yeah, but we’re not superhumans like you guys are.”

Jason briefly glances at where Kimberly and Tommy’s gear is and waves a hand at it, “Leave the ropes and stuff. We’ll use ‘em to pull you guys up later.”

“Well, that sounds even _more_ fun,” Kimberly says, dryly, but a smile is on her lips. Angel Grove is looking to be full of more and more surprises by the minute.

Her clothes are soaked, especially her socks, which is _beyond_ uncomfortable and gross, but she couldn’t care less. There’s apprehension in the air, a buzzing that gives her goosebumps. A path leads out of the enclosed space they’ve fallen into a cavern that the kids are taking the lead on, and Kimberly falls behind to the back of the group, next to Tommy, as they continue on.

“Do you feel that?” she asks, keeping her voice low on instinct; the walls look like they’d echo.

“Yeah, there’s something here… the walls are shaking.” He briefly places his hand on the wall closest to him, nods as confirmation, and frowns. “Underground Command Center?”

“Alien spaceship?” Kimberly counters, “Their armor looked alien in the photos we’ve seen.”

“Guess we’ll find out… I’ll bet you for it,” Tommy holds his hand out.

Kimberly slaps his palm without missing a beat, “Gimme the odds, flyboy.”

“How ‘bout… I win, I call the shots tonight; you win, you call ‘em?”

“ _Or_ ,” Kim calls back from the front of the group, evidently having pretty good hearing on her list of Ranger superpowers, her words bouncing off the walls, “how about you guys chill with the bedroom talk for, like, the next decade?” She turns, walking backwards through the cavern with a casual finesse, and raises her eyebrows at Kimberly.

Kimberly chuckles, “Maybe I’m just doing it to mess with you.”

Kim rolls her eyes and turns back around; Kimberly doesn’t miss the finger she throws over her shoulder, “That’s mean. _You’re_ mean.”

They keep walking, deeper into the cavern; Kimberly’s ears pick up on a soft humming, growing louder as the group finally comes to a much larger clearing than the one they’d landed in. All the rock walls look the same, but straight in front of her, is a set of stairs, half-encased in dirt, and… a door.

“Underground Command Center,” Tommy says, and Kimberly doesn’t have to look at him to see the smirk on his face.

“Actually,” Billy interjects, “it’s a spaceship. It crashed, but technically, it _is_ underground.”

It’s Kimberly’s turn to flash Tommy a smug grin, and she pats him on the shoulder as she makes a beeline for the interesting and _definitely_ alien door. “We’ll figure it out later, flyboy.”

The door _whooshes_ open as the group approaches, hitting them all with a slight breeze. Kimberly would appreciate it, had her clothes not been sopping wet and icky.

She’s never actually stood inside of a spaceship before; it feels oddly… too normal. There’s metal under her feet, and she hears the quiet humming indication that the ship is powered up and active. “Uh, this thing isn’t just going to take off with us inside of it, right?”

“Not for the foreseeable future,” Billy says, smiling warmly at her, “Zordon says the crash was meant to be pretty permanent.”

“And when did it crash?”

“About 65 million years ago.”

“Oh, okay,” Kimberly nods like it’s the most normal thing she’s heard all day (and, all things considered, it probably will be by tonight), “So, we’re standing in what supposedly caused all the dinosaurs to go extinct. No big deal.”

Their footsteps echo as walk up the stairs, deeper into the spaceship. When they reach the top, the stairs abruptly retract into the floor, making Kimberly and Tommy jump.

“Ah, don’t worry,” Zack says, patting Kimberly on the shoulder, “That happens.”

“Uh-huh… not really doing much to convince me that you’re not about to fly this piece of junk to the moon.”

In front of them, a large door slides open as Jason takes a step towards it. Walking inside the large room reminiscent of the Command Center, Kimberly sees five platforms, arranged in a circle around… a ball of light? It reminds her of the viewing globe, but that was solid.

Suddenly, the ball of light fluctuates, and they’re all looking at flashing images of Kimberly and Tommy -- their breakfast together _that_ morning, the drive to Angel Grove, the meeting at the mine. She shouldn’t, but Kimberly feels a stab of offense at her privacy being invaded. Instinctively, she reaches over and grabs Tommy’s hand, firmly keeping herself close to him.

The room brightens, significantly, as the far wall flashes red, and a giant head materializes out of the wall… but inside of it?

The face opens its mouth and booms, “ _Rangers!_ ”

Kimberly visibly starts, huffing out a sigh of exasperation. Her heart beats rapidly in her chest. Beside her, Tommy bristles, not immune to being startled either.

She doesn’t know the voice, but the unmistakable feeling of _home_ in the pit of her stomach confirms her hunch. Kimberly leans over and whispers to Tommy, “He… looks like a giant Pin Art head.”

A few feet away, Kim, who clearly heard her comment, struggles to suppress her laughter and hides behind Trini as Zordon zips from one end of the wall to the other, his eyes squinting at the group as a whole, but Kimberly and Tommy especially.

“Hello,” she greets, meekly. It’s been decades since she last saw Zordon -- even if this one isn’t _her_ Zordon since her Zordon is a little bit dead -- and standing here, for the first time, in her heart, feels like an _again._

“Kimberly Hart,” Zordon acknowledges her without missing a beat, “and Tommy Oliver.”

“You… you know who we are?” Tommy asks, taking a step forward; Kimberly lets herself be pulled along with him.

For a moment, her heart soars; if Zordon knows who they are, then all is well and all will be well. She’s always trusted him, always looked to him for help and advice, no matter how cryptic some of his words could be. Coming from a home where she’d split time between both of her parents and then, later, a stepfather, Zordon had been a constant father figure to her, and when she’d heard about news of his death from Tommy, about how he had given up his life to purify the galaxy… Kimberly had been utterly devastated.

If Zordon can help them, then they don’t have to run around grasping at half-assed theories and the agony of not knowing.

“I know _of_ you,” he responds, slowly, “through the Grid and what it’s shown me.”

And, then, her heart breaks, crashing to the ground in smithereens.

“Wh--” her voice cracks, and she stops herself, closing her eyes and taking a breath. Behind her and Tommy, the other Rangers keep their respectful silence, watching and waiting.

_One, two, three… five… ten._

“We’re not… we weren’t _your_ Rangers,” she states, finally, opening her eyes; tears well up in her eyes, but she quickly wipes them away with her sleeves before the others can see.

“No. You are not.”

Kimberly lets out a breath she doesn’t even realize she’d been holding. She knew. Even before arriving in Angel Grove, she had known. And, here it is, the truth.

They’re far away from home and completely lost and all alone.

 

* * *

 

The scene is front of her is awkward, to say the least. Kim feels like she should leave the room as fast as possible and save Kimberly the embarrassment or the invasion of privacy or whatever.

“Then, why- who--” Kimberly struggles with her words, clearly becoming increasingly frustrated and sighing, “It doesn’t make any _sense._ ”

Zordon is quiet for a moment, thinking. In the center of the room, their window into the Grid flashes, and Kim sees Power Rangers, but not them. The outfits -- more like old school Spider-Man spandex than their own space armor -- are familiar, the helmets in close enough design to theirs. More images flicker rapidly; Zordon’s brow furrows in concentration (Kim didn’t even think it was possible for a face on a wall to have expression, but clearly, there’s no such thing as the laws of physics or anything anymore).

Rangers fighting monsters, a Megazord that looks more robotic than theirs falling apart in a series of explosions, a younger Kimberly (but still as stunning as she is now, which begs the question of if she even ages) being held back from running forward by other kids Kim doesn’t recognize, the heartbreaking _“No!”_ on her lips and the crushing despair on her face hitting Kim like a freight train. (She really needs to stop thinking about freight trains.)

Kimberly takes one look at it and quickly turns away, her eyes closing in pain. “Can you… stop that?” she asks, quietly, and adds as an afterthought, “Please.”

The Grid goes neutral, stopping its run-through of the past and settling for a white blankness.

“I’m sorry if I upset you, Kimberly,” Zordon says; he sounds so much like a genuine _father_ , and Kim wonders if that’s what the other Kimberly hears.

Kimberly’s face crumples, and she shakes her head to herself, waving off the apology, turning her back to Zordon and them, and hiding her face in Tommy’s shoulder. They hug, tightly, desperately, the soft sounds of Kimberly’s tears muffled by her husband’s shirt; Kim and the others look anywhere but directly at them.

Kim has the impulse to be the courageous one who breaks the silence, so she brushes past Trini, lightly touching the girl on the small of her back, and steps further into the room.

“What does this mean, Zordon? For them… and for us?”

For all of his cryptic messages and the days he’s spent lecturing them over their duties, Zordon’s at a loss. “I don’t know. When Kimberly and Tommy arrived in town, I sent Alpha to find out what he could.”

“And?”

“He hasn’t found anything that could help us yet.”

Kim’s starting to understand why it looked like all of Kimberly’s hope had stood on Zordon’s shoulders. (Did Zordon even have shoulders, technically, in this form?) Because it had. And the realization that even Zordon didn’t have the answers they were all looking for…

“I’m sorry I wasn’t of more help, Rangers.”

From the corner, Kimberly pulls away from Tommy and sniffles, rubbing the last of her tears out of her eyes. “It’s okay, Zordon. Some things… just don’t have answers. Or, at least, answers we can find right now.” She smiles at him, but the smile doesn’t quite reach her eyes.

“We can think of answers,” Billy chimes in, raising his eyebrows, “You know, brainstorming. It’s better than nothing, right?”

Kim’s heart flutters at that. Billy’s always such a sweetheart, and even for these two that they all don’t know too well, he wants to help them. (Sure, she wants to help them, too, but she doesn’t even know _where_ to start.)

“Yeah,” Kim adds, wringing her hands together and racking her brain for ideas (of which, she has none), “Uh, I mean, you guys used to be Rangers, right? So, like, you’ve seen some weird shit. Could any of that… cause all this?” Vaguely, she waves a hand around the room and between her and Kimberly.

Tommy and Kimberly glance at each other and whisper back and forth in each other’s ears; if Kim wanted to, she could’ve strained herself slightly to hear what they’re saying, but she doesn’t. “Have you, um, fallen through any wormholes lately?” Tommy asks, shrugging.

“What’s a wormhole?” Trini pipes up, arms crossed and eyebrow raised.

“This is _exactly_ why you should watch _The Flash,_ ” Kim mutters under her breath; Trini glares at her.

Next to Jason, Billy claps his hands together, nodding excitedly as he arranges his thoughts. “I know!” he says, drawing everyone’s attention, “A wormhole, otherwise known as an Einstein-Rosen bridge, is a hypothetical connection between two points separated by time and space. Or time _or_ space. It’s, like, a portal. Kinda. Weird things happen if you go into one, supposedly. I wouldn’t know; I’ve never been in one.”

“Like Interstellar,” Kim supplies, uselessly.

Trini definitely seems to get that reference a little better and nods, adorably going, “Ohhh.”

“I think we would’ve noticed if we fell through a wormhole,” Jason says, “so that’s a no.”

Kimberly bites her bottom lip, thinking, “Yeah, and _we_ haven’t fallen through any wormholes lately, either. So…” She glances at Tommy.

“Don’t look at _me._ I’m out of ideas, too.”

Well, now, they’re back at square one.

 

* * *

 

Zordon calls Alpha back to the ship, so until he arrives, they sit down and wait.

It’s an uncomfortable silence, where Kimberly and Tommy take to sitting on one side of the room, cuddling and whispering amongst themselves (it’s, honestly, so sweet that Kim can feel herself getting a cavity) and Kim and the others huddle on the other side of the room, giving the couple their privacy.

For his part, Zordon disappears back into his wall, but Kim figures that he’s probably still listening in or something since he’s a part of the ship now.

Kim leans against the wall, fidgeting with her hands. Her phone’s never gotten service down here, so that pretty much takes out everything else she could occupy her time with.

When she’d sat down, Trini had gravitated to her, naturally, like they’ve been doing since they became Rangers. Kim wants to make a comment about that, but it’s too soon. Maybe. She has too much on her own plate with her parents, a pigsty of a room, another version or whatever of her walking around, not to mention whatever Trini probably has on her own to deal with; she doesn’t want to unnecessarily complicate things by bringing up how she’s kinda head over heels for her fellow Rangers. But, like, only kinda.

The thought makes her frown, and she cracks her knuckles to ease the tension inside of her body. Beside her, Trini bristles and bumps Kim’s shoulder with her own.

“You’re restless,” Trini states, simply.

Kim sighs, trying to crack her knuckles again, but that’s not how it works, “Yeah… it’s better if I have something to mess with. You know, to touch.”

“Origami. Like in detention.”

She nods, “That’s one of the things I like, yeah. My mom taught me when I was a kid ‘cause she kept finding all the notes I passed back and forth in school in my backpack. Figured that if I was gonna keep all the paper, she might as well teach me how to make something beautiful out of it all.” Caught up in the conversation, Kim instinctively leans on Trini’s shoulder but starts to pull away when she feels the other girl tense. “Sorry--”

“No, it’s fine,” is the soft, hasty reply Trini gives; after a beat, she relaxes and motions her approval for Kim to continue.

Resting her head on Trini’s shoulder brings a wave of calmness over her; she remembers that same feeling from last night in the car and sighs, content for the moment.

Trini takes her sigh as continued anxiety, though. “Still need something to touch?”

Kim shrugs as best as she can in her current position, “Yeah. Sure, I guess.” She blinks, and Trini slips her hand into Kim’s, shifting slightly and squeezing Kim’s hand once.

Oh.

“We’re not speaking of this,” Trini mutters, looking the exact opposite direction of Kim.

She’s tempted to say something else, something more serious, but instead, she just chuckles and teases, “Yeah, ‘course not. Can’t have everyone thinking you’re anything but that tough n’ feisty front you put up.”

Trini lets out a soft breath of relief that Kim pretends not to notice for the other girl’s sake; she’d chosen the right set of words.

“It’s not a front,” Trini replies, pouting indignantly, “I’ll fight you.”

“Ha! I’d win.”

“You _wish,_ princess.”

 

* * *

 

Half an hour later, there’s a loud rumbling, and the ship underneath their feet shakes.

“Must be Alpha coming in,” Kim says, letting go of Trini’s hand and quickly getting up.

Trini gets that it’s probably the nerves and impatience, but she misses Kim’s hand the moment they stop touching.

Distant, clattering footsteps get closer and closer, echoing off of the metal walls, and finally, Alpha 5 skids into the room, nearly running into Zack, who hastily scrambles out of the way.

“Rangers, I’m home!” Alpha exclaims; he pauses and peers at Kimberly and Tommy, his yellow eyes blinking, “You’re not Rangers.” He waddles over to the couple, who both stand a good few feet higher than him, and stares at them. “A lot older,” he comments, tilting his head.

Kimberly glances over at Trini and the others, an amused smile on her face, “He’s a little bit short for a stormtrooper, isn’t he? Our Alpha was, uh, taller.”

“Laugh it up, fuzzball,” Zack says, frowning; Trini can’t help laughing at the offense in his voice, “but Mr. Robot’s got a mean-ass grip. Our first meeting didn’t go well.”

“Maybe if you kids didn’t keep trying to run from me,” Alpha bites back, “then it would’ve gone _better_ for you.”

“Excuse me, I’m _sorry_ I don’t trust the first talking robot I see!”

Zordon’s face materializes in the wall. “Alpha,” he greets, “this is Kimberly Hart and Tommy Oliver -- the… former Rangers we’ve been seeing in the Grid.”

Trini notices the way Kimberly’s shoulders tense at “former Rangers,” and when she glances at Kim, she knows they’ve both seen it. The observation sits uncomfortably at the bottom of her stomach.

Alpha gives Kimberly and Tommy another once-over then nods, satisfied. He walks over to the wall, right in front of Zordon, looking comically tiny next to, well, a giant head attached to a wall. “I wasn’t able to find anything that could clue us in on this… mystery, Zordon. But! I ran into some trouble. And, then, I ran away from some trouble.”

Jason’s interest is piqued; it must be his Leader Spidey Senses or something. “What _kind_ of trouble?” he asks, “Like, Rita or--”

The Grid flashes in the middle of the room, and through it, Trini sees Putties forming from the cement and debris on the roads of Angel Grove.

“Like _that_ ,” Alpha deadpans, pointing at the Grid.

Kimberly makes a face, her disgust palpable. “Ugh, gross.”

“That thing… looks like it’s hit rock bottom,” Tommy comments and chuckles, briefly, his eyes crinkling; Kimberly smacks him in the arm, “Sorry, I- it was necessary.”

Kim rolls her eyes and sighs, exasperatedly, “It really wasn’t…”

Trini and the others groan, but she still smiles a bit, nevertheless. A bad pun is still a pun. She looks at Zordon, “Didn’t we already wipe the floor with these losers before?”

“It appears that the Putties are being re-animated through remnant traces of Goldar’s energy,” Zordon responds, “Over time, those energy traces will dwindle, but for now…”

“It’s morphin’ time?” Kimberly supplies, a fond smile on her lips.

Already, instinctively, the five move as a group to the morphing platforms; they can morph outside of the ship, but perfecting it takes practice. And the morphing platforms are already there for convenience, so. No point in trying harder than needed.

Jason meets Kimberly’s gaze and nods, “It’s morphin’ time.”

 

* * *

 

Standing on her platform (she’s come to think of it as hers, now) is an automatic action for Kim. It feels like the sense of belonging she’s just beginning to grasp at. Since morphing for the first time, she’s changed and, even in these past few days, she’s changed.

The five of them are closer together, much more than they had been before.

The energy of the Grid swirls around them, lights illuminating and flashy and bright. The air buzzes with enough energy to make the hair on her neck stand on end. It’s… powerful. Raw. Electricity crackles underneath her skin, waiting to be let out. Her heart pounds in her chest, in her ears.

This time, when they morph, it happens quicker because they’re truly connected. Kim’s armor manifests around her hands first, darting up and down her body, clicking into place like it’s always meant to be worn by her.

It’s over in a split second; the Grid becomes quiet again, the room defaulting back to its normal amount of illumination.

Kim pulls her visor back with a simple thought, her armor responding to her mind with ease, and glances at Kimberly and Tommy.

They’re in awe, both of them, but Kimberly, especially, her lips parted in silent surprise. Tears well up in the corner of her eyes; Kim can’t even begin to _imagine_ what’s going through Kimberly’s brain right now, how she must feel to see… someone else taking her place.

“What?” she asks when Kimberly’s been staring at her enough to make her fidget uncomfortably. (It must be a sight, she thinks, a galactic superhero shuffling her feet because people staring at her makes her nervous.)

“I...” Kimberly falters then waves her hand and shakes her head, “Nothing. It doesn’t matter. Go- go kick some ass before those Putties hurt someone.”

Kim pauses, wanting to say more, but Billy’s hand on her shoulder, urging her along, stops her. With one last glance at Kimberly, her eyes silently telling the other woman that they’ll have something to talk about later, she snaps her visor back into place and follows the others out of the ship.

 

* * *

 

Jason lands on one knee, the ground under him denting and cracking from the impact. Eh, it’s alright; Fountainview was already getting re-paved from Rita’s destruction. It can stand another round of fixing. As he stands, Kim nods at him.

“Nice superhero landing, Peter,” she jokes, the teasing smile evident in her voice even though he can’t see her face.

“Peter? C’mon, I’m _easily_ Steve.”

Beside her, Zack lands, slightly shakily, on his feet, having jumped down from the roof of the building where they’d all been scouting out the Putties. “Nah, you wish you were Steve,” he waves a hand at Jason, “but you’re _definitely_ Peter. Like, the new one, too, not Garfield or Maguire.”

“I’m… offended.”

“How ‘bout,” Trini cuts in, “you guys figure out which white boy superhero Jason is later so that we can take care of these Putties _now_ ? ‘Cause I have a paper that I’d rather spend time _not_ working on.”

In the distance, the mass of ever-growing Putties are on a rampage, ripping street signs from their posts, crushing people’s cars under their ugly, rocky feet, and heading for…

“The park,” Jason says with realization, fear gripping his heart, “ _Shit_ , they’re headed for the park.”

“That’s where the relief camp is.” Billy fidgets, uncertainly. “Crap. I mean- that’s a lot of people.”

Okay. They can do this.

“Alright, game plan, we… lure them away from the park. Into the woods or something. If that doesn’t work, then civilians are the number one priority.”

“And how do you figure we lure 'em away, boss?” Jason flinches at the nickname, but he’s not going to fight Trini for it right now. They’ve got more important things to handle.

“I don’t _know_ … yell at them? Punch them? We’re kinda, like, rainbow warriors, so really, we’re pretty good attention-grabbers.”

 

* * *

 

Kim, Jason notices, has some issues to work out, which she’s currently projecting into a well-aimed kick (with a beautiful war cry that’d make Diana Prince proud) to a Putty’s center mass, shattering it into pieces. Another one runs in the opposite direction of her, closer to the park, and she sprints after it, yelling, “Come back here, you piece of shit!”

Well, that’s one way to go about it.

 

* * *

 

Kimberly’s heart won’t stop beating so damn fast in her chest after seeing the kids morph into armor that just looked so... damn familiar. She sits on the steps leading into the Command Center, leaning on Tommy’s shoulder.

Alpha had run off to one of the other many, many rooms in the spaceship, muttering something about energy readings.

In the middle of the room, the Grid follows the progress of the Rangers as they smash Putty after Putty into pieces. Kimberly doesn’t question how it works, just like she never questioned how the viewing globe worked; it just does.

“How come they have to get to the city through the quarry?” she asks, catching Zordon’s attention, “Isn’t there a… I don’t know, teleportation matrix? Or something?”

“We used to teleport with our communicators,” Tommy adds, “Alpha linked them to the Command Center’s teleportation matrix. But… they don’t have those.”

The Grid breaks from the Rangers and switches to an image of Billy -- her Billy -- working on his communicators; Zordon watches the scene for a moment, then the Grid goes back to displaying the Rangers fighting the Putties.

“The suits are linked to the ship,” Zordon says, “but, yes, Tommy, they have no means of communicating with Alpha or me as civilians. I’ll have Alpha start working on that.”

There’s an echo that carries from further down into the ship, and Alpha’s unmistakable robotic voice faintly bounces off the walls, “I’ll get right on that, Zordon!”

“We can help,” Tommy offers, “I mean, I don’t know how much help we’ll be since that was always Billy’s area of expertise, but… Kimberly has an emergency communicator that Alpha can take a look at.”

“It doesn’t work anymore, though,” Kimberly shrugs, “but the mechanics are still there.” It hadn’t worked in so many years. She isn’t sure at what point in her life exactly it stopped working -- when the original Command Center blew up, when the Power Chamber was destroyed, or when Zordon himself had died -- but it had just been a thing she’d discovered. Years after Maligore and the Turbo Rangers, Kimberly had found the communicator in a box in the back of her closet, and when she’d tried it out, there had only been empty static.

“That will work fine,” Zordon says.

“What about teleporting?”

“A problem that has yet to be solved. The ship’s teleportation matrix is adapted for Eltarian bodies, and there could be unforeseen consequences if the Rangers tried to use it without accounting for the differences in physiology. However, it does work, or it last did 65 million years ago.”

The specifics raise a question in Kimberly’s mind, added to the fact that, besides the knowledge of her and Tommy’s existence or the other Rangers’ existence being a mystery, she doesn’t know anything about this Zordon or the other Rita.

“Did you… use it?”

A pause. “Yes, my team and I did.”

Kimberly glances at Tommy, the confusion on her face mirroring his. Zordon hadn’t told them much about his life prior to, well, being trapped in a time warp inside of a giant tube, but he’d had a physical body once upon a time.

It wasn’t too far of a stretch to consider that, maybe, their Zordon had been a Ranger at one point, too.

“Where’s… where’s your team now?” Kimberly asks, not because she doesn’t know the answer (that’s already clear with the fact that Zordon’s mentoring five new kids), but because she just wants to hear it. In some weird way, she feels like hearing it would be closure of some sort.

“Dead.”

She waits for some epiphanic feeling to wash over her.

Nope. No closure.

Kimberly reaches over and grabs Tommy’s hand, grounding herself in the familiarity of the action. She doesn’t know why it still surprises her that she hasn’t had too many moments of pure calmness since coming back home.

It’s been two days. She’d figured being home for two days would’ve magically… fixed everything, but that, in hindsight, was apparently asking too much from the universe.

 

* * *

 

By the time the Rangers get back, the sun is close to setting. They enter Zordon’s ship, armor still dripping wet and shoes squishing as they demorph.

Trini’s thoroughly wiped out; her body already aches, and she’s sure she’s going to have bruises from some of the hits the Putties got in tomorrow. Not to mention that her armor doesn’t _completely_ protect her from getting a wet wedgie from coming back to the ship through the ravine.

“Ugh, that never stops feeling gross,” Kim mutters, frowning and taking off her jacket to twist some of the water out of it.

Trini quickly looks away from Kim once she remembers that the other girl is still wearing her shirt (which is wet, by the way, but still manages to look good on Kim and that’s completely _not_ helping her case).

Tommy and Kimberly stand as the Ranger approach, looking pretty amused at their sorry, soppy states. “Never was that complicated for us getting back,” Kimberly comments, chuckling.

Trini rolls her eyes but her tone is light, “Yeah, wouldn’t expect much less for a princess.” As expected, Kim reaches over and flicks her in the arm, shooting her an exaggerated glare. Figures.

“Hey, so, it’s getting late,” Tommy says, his hands in his pockets, shoulders awkwardly hunched (Trini suspects that he’s probably a giant dork if the whole “doctor of paleontology” was any indicator, and his lack of posture doesn’t help), “but Kimberly and I were talking earlier about possibly… taking you guys to dinner. Burgers or something.” When nobody immediately responds, he quickly adds, “I mean, if you want to. No big deal.”

“Gee, was this how he asked you out on your first date?” Kim asks, eyebrow raised, evoking a laugh but no answer from Kimberly.

Jason shrugs, “That’s fine with me.”

Billy nods in agreement, “I’ll have to check with my mom, but I’m sure she’ll say yes.”

Zack snaps his fingers in Billy’s direction, “Ditto on the mom thing.”

Trini and Kim share a quick glance, being the last ones to give an answer.

When Trini doesn’t immediately talk, Kim shrugs. “My parents aren’t even home, so it doesn’t… really matter.” Her voice doesn’t break, but her eyes don’t meet Tommy or Kimberly’s.

And, then, everyone looks at Trini. She frowns and shrinks into herself, making a noncommittal “ehhh” noise before speaking. “I’d have to check with my parents… but I’m not sure if they’d say yes. They’re kinda. Strict.”

“Would it help if they knew Tommy and I were taking you guys out? Like, through a phone call?”

Trini’s eyes widen, and she takes a step back, hastily shaking her head, “Nope, absolutely _not._ I- that’d probably make it worse, honestly.”

“Could you… tell your parents that you’re working on biology at my place and that my mom roped you into dinner afterward?” Kim offers, stepping closer to her and raising a hand to presumably touch her arm but thinking better of it at the last moment. Trini simultaneously feels relieved and disappointed at Kim dropping her hand, but she shoves the feeling back down her stomach.

“Um.” Honestly, she’s still going to get grilled when she gets home, anyway, so it hardly makes a difference. But, the way everyone else is looking at her, even if it’s not _intentionally_ in expectation, makes her feel like she _needs_ to say yes. Fucking peer pressure of her imagination. “Yeah, I... guess that'd work.”

The wide, bright grin Kim gives her has her stomach doing flips and her knees suspiciously weak. A right choice, then, if it makes Kim smile like _that._

“We only have five seats in my Wrangler, though,” Tommy says, “and I don’t want any of you guys walking--”

“ _Nobody_ is sitting in the trunk,” Kimberly interjects, shooting her husband a look before he can finish.

“I wasn’t going to say that--”

“It was implied.” At Jason’s questioning look, Kimberly explains, “We’ve had incidents before.”

“Trent said it was _fine_ ,” Tommy sighs, shaking his head (to which Kimberly mutters back, “Which means it was _not_ fine.”) and backtracking, “Two of you guys can double up on seats, I guess.”

The speed with which everyone in the room (except Zordon who, thankfully, was still probably somewhere in his wall) whips their head around to look at Trini is jarringly comical.

Not to her, though.

“Is it because I’m the shortest?” she complains, rolling her eyes, “Honestly, screw you guys.”

“You’re the _smallest_ ,” Kim says, pointedly, as if the distinction matters any, “and you probably weigh the least.”

“It’s practical,” Billy nods, smiling at her. Easy for him to say, he’s easily the tallest out of the five of them.

It’s annoying, that’s what it is.

“That only counts for one missing seat, though,” she deflects, trying to push the focus off of her. Sooner this is over with, the better.

“Billy can sit alone so he can be comfortable. Zack’s with me,” Jason offers, flipping Zack off when he makes an “oooh” noise and wiggles his eyebrows, “Shut up, dude.”

Trini realizes too late that that leaves her sitting on Kim’s lap, and the thought makes her forget to breathe for an entire second, her cheeks heating up. She can feel Kim’s eyes on her, so she just bores holes into the floor instead. Shit.

“Alright, then, it’s settled,” Kim says, a literal bounce in her voice; she tugs on Trini’s sleeve, pulling her toward the exit, and whispers (Trini must be imagining that sultry edge -- she _has_ to be otherwise she’s going to fucking explode) in her ear, “C’mon, you can sit with me.”

God, this was going to be a trip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For more Kim feels, check out 90s!Kim's companion oneshot to this chapter here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/10759689


	7. Residual Effect

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Rangers have dinner with Kimberly and Tommy, and after, Kim decides to confront her feelings for her teammates, starting with Trini.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do a Power Geeks™ family dinner, Fall Out Boy, and Trimberly all have in common?
> 
> They're all in this chapter!!!
> 
> I hope it was worth the wait. ): Sorry about that.
> 
> This was meant to be way longer, but I decided to split it up. Again. (For the record, ch5 + 6 were originally only ch5. And now ch7 is gonna turn into ch7 + part of ch8. I just moved some scenes around.)

After five separate phone calls were made, lasting varying lengths of time at the top of the ravine (where Kimberly and Tommy had found out that, yes, due to her superhuman strength, Trini herself could easily pull two grown adults up a cliff -- not gracefully, of course, but the job was done), the seven of them piled quite uncomfortably into Tommy’s Jeep and began the drive back to town.

“You know,” Kim whispers more into Trini’s arm than her ear, “if you would just stop squirming, then maybe you could get comfortable.” Her arms are loosely looped around Trini’s waist, and while she’d love to be in this situation any other time, Trini doesn’t find it comfortable at all. _Especially_ because it feels like her skin is on fire through her shirt where Kim’s arm is pressing against her side. And, especially because the seat belt wasn’t exactly made for two people. But, mostly the first one.

Trini shoots a glance over at Jason who just helplessly shrugs at her. On his lap, Zack’s already passed out, his head at a majorly awkward angle that’ll probably hurt his neck like a bitch when he wakes up.

Squished in the middle between Kim and Jason is Billy; Trini lightly taps him on the thigh. “You good, buddy?”

“Yep!” he looks at her a little smugly, “You look like you’re not.”

“She better be,” Kim answers for her, poking her in the side, to which Trini grumbles, “or else I’ll throw her out the window and we’ll see how comfortable she is then.”

“Kim, there are no windows. Or car roof, for that matter.”

“Got my work cut out for me, then.”

Trini rolls her eyes, forgetting her irritation for a second when Kim chuckles and she feels the vibration in her bones.

“Can we get some music going?” she asks, eager to have something going so that she can ignore everything about sitting on Kim’s lap, Kim’s arms around her waist, Kim leaning her head against her back…

From the passenger seat, Kimberly grabs the aux cord and plugs her phone in, fiddling around with it before picking something to play.

“Dude, I _love_ Fall Out Boy!” Kim exclaims at the first notes that drift out of the car’s speakers.

“Everyone loves Fall Out Boy, princess. You’re not special.” Trini mutters, dryly.

“I can unbuckle your seat belt _so_ fast.”

She withholds all snarky comments after that.

It’s not something that they all verbally agree on, but a jam session breaks out within seconds, waking up Zack, who groans loudly about his neck but gets over it as soon as he joins in.

Billy taps his foot to the rhythm, doing a pretty good impression of air drums. Zack bops his head to the music, drawing out the deepest scowl Trini’s ever seen on Jason’s face as he has to deal with Zack constantly shifting his weight every two seconds.

Even Tommy gets in on it, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel as Kimberly animatedly sings next to him, looking pretty damn perfect with the wind in her hair.

It’s always something about girls named Kimberly, she thinks.

As if she can read Trini’s thoughts (an absolutely horrifying idea), Kim starts singing, resting her forehead against Trini’s shoulder, “ _And in the end, I’d do it all again. I think you’re my best friend. Don’t you know that the kids aren’t al- kids aren’t alright?_ ”

It’s. Distracting. To say the least.

 

* * *

 

About seven Fall Out Boy songs, the kids nearly suffering a heart attack in the backseat after Tommy brakes _too_ hard at a red light (“Sorry, guys!”), and a thirty-minute drive later, they arrive at their destination, the Rudy’s on Ocean Bluff, and everyone scrambles out of Tommy’s Jeep.

They sit down at a circular table for six with an extra chair pulled up for Tommy, who takes being squished next to Kimberly without batting an eye. Although, to be fair, they probably would’ve ended up scooting their chairs together by the end of the night, regardless.

Kimberly remembers Rudy’s from a date with Tommy and a couple of hangouts with the gang years ago. That time feels even further away now.

She and Kim order the _exact_ same thing -- a BLT cheeseburger with sweet potato fries and a Dr. Pepper -- and stare awkwardly at each other from across the table after the waiter scurries away with their orders. Kimberly’s positive the whole same-wavelength thing makes the other girl more uncomfortable than it makes her.

“What was your life like,” Kim asks, “you know, before you became a Ranger?” She wrings her hands together on the table -- one of the nervous tells they share.

“Uh,” she glances at Tommy, who shrugs -- exchanging life stories wouldn’t hurt anyone, “Well, I was born in Seattle. My dad worked for Microsoft; my mom was an accountant. We moved to Angel Grove when I was little. I started doing gymnastics pretty early on. Picked up cheerleading for a little while in middle school, but… it wasn’t for me. I dropped it in high school to focus on gymnastics.”

“Other way ‘round for me,” Kim comments, “Haven’t done gymnastics since 6th grade.”

“I’m sure you’d be good at it. And I’m not just saying that because we’re, you know, the same person. Almost the same person.”

The smile that Kim gives her doesn’t quite reach her eyes; inside, Kimberly feels a pang of sympathetic sorrow. If she’d lost her routine, her passion for gymnastics while being a Ranger… well, she’d been ready to give it all up just to stay in Angel Grove, but she never had the chance to actually experience that loss.

“What about…” Kim closes her eyes, tightly, and swallows. A painful memory. “The divorce?” Painful words.

“Kim--” Trini nudges her with her elbow, brow furrowed in concern, voice stern with an unspoken plea to not go there.

Kimberly keeps her eyes on Kim, the sorrow in her heart digging deeper. It’s like looking at a younger version of herself, in the obvious way, but at the same time, not. She aches for the pain Kim feels and aches for her inability to just be able to will it away with a touch. “It’s fine,” she says, shaking her head, “I don’t mind talking about it at all.”

“You’re not who I’m worried about.”

The sharp edge in Trini’s voice has Kimberly raising her eyebrows, intrigued. Jason shifts uneasily in his seat, next to Tommy, staying silent but his eyes darting between Trini and Kimberly, ready to break up any hint of animosity. It’s not anger in the girl’s eyes, just wariness. Overprotectiveness.

“I’ll be fine, Trini,” Kim mumbles, bumping Trini’s shoulder with her own, “I can handle it.” She looks at Kimberly, expectantly.

They don’t get to find out if Kim can handle it. Whatever tense, serious air that exists in that moment breaks when their waiter comes back with all of their orders at the same time.

When Kimberly meets Kim’s eyes again, the girl shakes her head, a movement so small that Kimberly would’ve missed it if she’d blinked.

The subject changes the moment everyone starts eating. Trini takes initiative, surprisingly, and Kimberly guesses it’s because she’s trying to stop Kim from hurting herself by asking for things she doesn’t -- shouldn’t -- want to hear.

“What about the other, uh, versions of us?” Trini asks between stealing fries from Kim’s plate; Kim slaps her hand away the fourth time.

Tommy’s hand is suddenly on Kimberly’s thigh underneath the table. He squeezes once, gentle but firm. A warning but also an affirmation.

She places her hand over his, squeezes back, and keeps it there.

“It’s… complicated,” she replies, keeping eye contact with Trini. If she even looks away for a second, it could be taken as, well, anything. Lying. Dishonesty. Anything besides the trust she and Tommy want from the kids. “There are… things that we know, things that we haven’t talked about… because we don’t wanna _influence_ you.”

Trini scoffs, “Influence us?”

Jason raises his eyebrows, “That’s kinda exactly what most grown-ups would wanna do for, you know, teenagers.”

Even Billy looks skeptical, “Aren’t you already doing that by telling us exactly that, though? Like…”

“Yeah,” Kimberly shakes her head, “I try not to think about it too much. Hurts my head.” She puts up her free hand. “Point is that… we don’t want knowledge of our past to decide your future. Like,” she motions to Kim, “you already know I went pro. What if… in a few years or something, you get that opportunity, too? I mean, there’s no question that it’d be based in merit, but either choice you make -- is the result because it’s what you want or because you’re aware of what had already happened before?”

“It’s nice to know we worry about the same things,” Kim mutters, an amused smile on her face.

Tommy removes his hand from Kimberly’s thigh and leans forward, resting his elbows on the table, “If it’s something life-threatening or… I don’t know, a problem arises or something like that, we’ll let you know. But, besides that, we don’t know how much power our words have. Or how dangerous they could be.”

“Is knowing about our… counterparts dangerous?” Zack asks.

“Well, I guess not.” If they stay away from a certain Green Ranger, of course. Kimberly takes the time to munch on a few fries as she arranges her thoughts and picks out safe things to say. “Uh, you, Zack- my Zack, he was a fun guy. Always looking to make people laugh, always messing around with everyone else, but in a harmless way. He knew martial arts like the rest of us, but he came up with his own style and called it ‘hip hop kido’ ‘cause he was a dancer, too.”

Zack nods his approval, “That’s _totally_ sick. The other me’s got moves.”

Kim snorts and rolls her eyes, jabbing an elbow into his side, “Yeah, but do _you_ have moves, _Zack-man_?”

“Why don’t you turn on some music and find out?” he teases and elbows her back, shooting her a wink.

Kimberly doesn’t miss both Kim quickly looking away, the corners of her lips tugging into a bashful smile, _and_ Trini uncomfortably shifting in her seat and staring laser-focused at her half-eaten food.

Ah, young love.

She remembers being that oblivious.

“Where’s your Zack now?” Jason asks.

Gone, she thinks. “Uh, he lives in Houston with Jason- my Jason. Last I remember, he was working in advertising, and Jason’s…” Kimberly glances at Tommy for confirmation, “Didn’t he say he was between jobs last Christmas?”

Tommy shrugs, “Yeah, he was working with some campaign, but it didn’t pan out or something. He’s just kinda, you know, drifting.”

Hearing that pains Kimberly’s heart for a long moment, and she hides the guilt in her eyes by pulling out her phone and pretending to check her texts. When she looks back up, Tommy meets her eyes, silently makes sure she’s okay, to which she minutely nods, and continues.

“Jason was a cool guy. Looked like he could kick your ass and probably could, but he was a big teddy bear.”

“I’ll tell him you said that,” Kimberly chuckles, “But, yeah, he was a softie at heart. Kinda like everyone’s overprotective big brother and all that. In his spare time, he’d teach martial arts to kids at the Juice Bar.”

“Juice Bar?” Jason motions with his hand in one direction, pauses, then points in the opposite direction, “You mean the one down Fountainview?”

Kimberly nods. “Yeah, that one. We passed by it before we ran across you guys. Looks like it’d been closed awhile, which,” she sighs, “Is kinda a shame. I’d hope that, you know, something good was still here.” She quickly realizes how awkward that sounds and clears her throat, “Shit- sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I meant something, like, familiar. Not to say Angel Grove isn’t good the way it is now.”

That draws out a snort from Kim. “Nah, it’s cool. This town’s hell.”

“It’s a good town,” Kimberly responds, not quite knowing why her first instinct is to defend a town she hasn’t been in since the nineties (it must be something about how Angel Grove rests in her heart like _home_ ), “When you have good people to spend time in it with, of course.”

Kim’s eyes leave hers and linger on Jason for a moment too long; Kimberly hides her amused smile behind a hand, exchanging an all-too-knowing glance with Tommy. This girl has _so_ much to work out. What a mess.

A tap on her shoulder draws Kimberly’s attention back to Billy. “Me next?” he asks, adorably eager to find out about his counterpart. Doppelganger. Whatever.

“Uh, yeah, sure,” Kimberly clasps her hands together, thinking. It’s been a long time, but she remembers Billy like yesterday, even though thinking about him hurts. Billy and Trini -- they both haunt her. “Billy was a sweet kid. Smart, _really_ smart, and so dedicated to being a Ranger. Kinda shy, sometimes, but being apart of our team built up his confidence.” She stops her sentence oddly or zones out or _something_ that Trini picks up on.

Trini leans forward, elbows on the table, “What happened to him?”

Kimberly shifts, straightening up in her seat, but doesn’t flinch -- tries hard _not_ to flinch because doing so would be a win for this feisty girl, and she won’t have that -- at Trini’s curious but piercing gaze.

Always the observant one.

“Nothing,” she says, a little too quickly, “I mean- it’s just…” She wrings her hands together and chews on her lower lips, trying to figure out the best way to say this. “He’s not dead or anything. Something… happened, and I don’t wanna go into details because -- like I said before -- I don’t want our past to influence your future.”

“So?” Trini presses, her eyebrows raised, “ _What_ happened?”

“He’s on another planet,” Kimberly huffs out in one breath, “Permanently.”

Various choruses of “What?” and one “What the fuck?” from Trini come from the kids all at once.

“Another planet?” Kim’s incredulous look is gold, “Okay, well, _now_ , you _have_ to tell us what happened.”

Kimberly glances at Tommy, who helplessly shrugs, and then Billy.

“I wanna know how I end up on another planet,” Billy says, simply.

This must be what having kids is like.

“Well, long story short, there was a spell that happened, Billy and the other Rangers were de-aged, and something happened during the process of getting him back to normal. He was, uh, dying, and the only cure was for him to go to this planet called Aquitar. And... he ended up staying there.”

“Whoa,” Zack breathes, “That’s cool.” Kim smacks him on the leg, and he rushes to correct himself, glaring at her. “I mean, rough. That’s rough. But, _still_ cool.”

It hurts, knowing that Billy isn’t a simple phone call or text message away, but she’s learned to deal with it over the years. Seeing him a few years ago when they reunited to fight the Armada was a sight that Kimberly had welcomed with open arms. He had still been his same self -- bright, sweet, and most importantly, alive.

He doesn’t haunt her as much as Trini does.

And, speaking of which…

Kimberly’s eyes meet Trini’s from across the table. There’s one Ranger left they haven’t touched upon; she didn’t even really plan for Trini to be last, but hey, it works out.

“My Trini was a lot less feisty than you are,” Kimberly starts, a teasing smile on her lips. She’s dancing around it, but she can’t keep that routine for long.

“Oh, yeah?” Trini mirrors her with a smile of her own, but it looks more predatory, like one she’d have right before smacking Zack for a stupid comment.

These kids are harder than she was, rougher around the edges. Hopefully, she thinks, that’s what’ll help them survive whatever’s coming for them. Because there’s _always_ something coming.

“Yeah, we were best friends,” she says, fondly, ducking her head and focusing her gaze on the table, where she can safely lose herself in memories and not have the others see her tearing up, “She… always had a good head on her shoulders. Kept her cool even when everything else was going to crap.”

Tommy’s hand is a familiar, strong weight on her shoulders. She knows that the kids know by now, from her averted gaze to the detachment in her voice to the way Tommy is on alert, ready to act as her support.

Kimberly looks up, wiping the tears in her eyes away with her thumb. Across from her, Kim is silent, her mouth drawn into a worried frown.

She shouldn’t tell them because it’s not something that should be said. It could hurt them. Make them paranoid. Ruin their lives.

Well, maybe that last one was a bit overdramatic, but. Still a possibility to consider.

But, it must be done. The truth can’t be avoided forever. Not with Trini and not with Tommy being the Green Ranger, their toughest, most human enemy. Not just one of Rita’s minions but a person, a classmate, a friend.

She plans on holding off on the latter for as long as possible, but the former…

Kimberly swallows, her throat dry. When she speaks, her voice is so quiet in the buzz of the restaurant that half of the table leans forward to hear.

“Trini died… in a car accident a few years after we’d both retired from the Ranger life.”

The entire table is silent; she watches all of their faces for instantaneous reactions, Trini and Kim’s in particular.

Trini stiffens, sitting up straighter in her seat, and surprise flashes in her eyes and her mouth falls open, both overtaken by the hasty smoothing of her features into her default nonchalance. Her facade doesn’t come up as quickly as it normally does, though. There’s a slight hesitance, the processing and the aftermath.

Kim is more open, covering her mouth with a hand in utter shock, her eyes welling up with tears for someone she doesn’t know. A friend she could’ve gotten to know, maybe. They would’ve gotten along, perhaps, Kimberly thinks, but there’s no way to test that theory, now.

Jason, always the leader (or always trying to be, in this case), is the first to speak, clearing his throat. His eyes are sad, _so_ sad; Kimberly hadn’t seen it before, not at first glance, but her Jason -- stoic, soft, too young Jason -- is sitting right in front of her, in the body of this boy with sun-bleached hair and eyes bluer than the sea. “I’m so sorry for your loss,” he says, his gaze shifting back and forth between Kimberly and Tommy.

“Yeah,” Kimberly nods, running a hand through her hair and sighing, “It’s been a long time, so it’s not as fresh, but…” She trails off, her eyes landing on Trini.

‘But’ hangs in the air between them.

“Well,” Trini picks up on the end of her sentence, voice clipped, “I don’t think what happened to you guys has to happen to us.” The hardness of her eyes is faked -- that much is clear -- but Kimberly knows not to press for more. Being told that you’re dead -- even if it is an older you, a different you -- isn’t something so casual. Kimberly makes a mental note to check back with Trini on that later.

“I hope not,” Tommy says, looking at Kimberly. She meets his gaze and knows that, as much as they both love being Rangers, just like her, he doesn’t want any of what they’ve gone through together to be brought down on these kids. It’s tough already being a teenager. Worse to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders, and worse even, to grow up and feel like it’s still there, especially when it’s already been passed on to other people.

The table falls into silence, the air uncomfortably heavy now, as everyone goes back to the small remainders of their food. Their waiter passes by after a few minutes, and Kimberly motions for the check, initiating some small semblance of normalcy returning to the atmosphere.

“Hey, thanks for this, you guys,” Jason starts, “You really didn’t have to--” He stops, suddenly, squinting at something over Billy’s shoulder, then looks at Kim, “Hey, Kim, aren’t those your parents?”

All at once, everyone at the table glances to the entrance, where a couple had just walked in. The man has Kim’s chin and jawline, the woman her nose and eyes, her skin a few shades darker than Kim’s.

“Shit! What the _hell_ are they doing here?” Kim hisses, ducking her head and pulling her hood up over her face faster than Kimberly’s seen anyone try to hide from someone else. The couple walks into their side of the restaurant, past their table but not close enough to see Kim (not that they seem particularly focused on looking at anyone else, really, with both parties lost in their phones), and is led by their waitress to a booth in the corner.

“Having dinner?” Billy plainly suggests, frowning when Kim grumbles.

“Yeah, but- I mean--” Kimberly watches as she peeks out from underneath her hood, glancing over her shoulder to where her parents are seated, both still on their phones. Their waitress drops by again with a plate of bread and butter, and the couple abandons their phones, opting for, presumably, small talk. “They haven’t- they haven’t even been home at the same time for, like, a _week_.”

Kim places both of her hands on the table, fingers tapping impatiently. Kimberly catches her eyes, noticing the restless glint in them, and quickly reaches across the table, firmly grabbing one of Kim’s hands. Numbness enters her joints immediately.

“ _Don’t_ ,” Kimberly warns, her voice stern, “I know what you’re thinking.”

Kim’s eyes are blazing, hot and angry, and underneath, sad. “You’re not my mother,” she snaps and takes advantage of Kimberly flinching to yank her hand away. A spark passes between them, pink, soft, and weak, fizzling out above Kim’s empty plate.

“Kim--” Trini tries to stop her, too, as Kim pushes her chair back, pulls her hood off, and gets out of her seat, reaching for the hem of Kim’s shirt.

Kim is noticeably gentler with Trini than she was with Kimberly, prying Trini’s hand off of her shirt (although, at this point, Kimberly questions why Kim would have yellow flannel in the first place) and scrambling off to her parents’ booth in the corner.

The rest of the table watches with apprehension as Kim stands at the edge of her parents’ table, shuffling her feet. Kim’s father -- Kimberly briefly wonders if it’s weird that her brain immediately thinks _Dad_ even though he doesn’t look like hers -- responds to something Kim says, and Kim’s mother scoots down on her side of the booth, making space for her daughter.

The scene plays out in front of Kimberly like she’s watching it on a YouTube video on a computer screen she can’t touch. Kim says something to her parents, her face scrunched up in frustration. Her dad reaches across the table, and Kim slips her hand away before he can touch her, slamming her palm down on the table, her features shifting into anger.

At the table, they’re all watching the same scene, Trini gripping her fork, uneasily, her jaw clenched. There’s a _crunch_ sound, and Billy reaches over, opening Trini’s fist to reveal two halves of the fork, crushed by her strength. Trini doesn’t notice and keeps staring straightforward at the Harts in their booth.

Kim’s crying now, and even from far away, Kimberly can see the tears trailing down her cheeks. It seems like way too much of an intimate moment to look in on. The boys and Tommy look away and Tommy tries to start a conversation with Jason (Kimberly hears something about Jason being quarterback), but Trini only seems to grow more antsy in her seat, her shoulders hunched in quiet anger. Billy’s holding her hand now, and the uncomfortable look on his face confirms Kimberly’s suspicion that she’s forgotten she’s gripping a human hand instead of a fork.

When Kim pulls her hood over her head again and shrinks in her seat, still saying things to her parents that are too fast -- and possibly not in English -- for Kimberly to lip read, that’s when she’s decided enough is enough. Kimberly gets out of her seat, tossing her napkin on the table, and walks over to the Harts’ booth, ignoring Tommy’s soft “Kim, don’t--”

It’s getting to be a day of people telling Kimberly Hart “no,” and it’s a good thing Kimberly Hart doesn’t listen. Well, sometimes, it’s a good thing. Now is one of those times.

Kimberly stops at the Harts’ booth, clearing her throat and ignoring the questioning looks from Kim’s father and mother that come her way. Briefly, she wonders if they can see that her daughter shares an uncomfortable number of similarities with her, but she quickly brushes that thought aside. “Kim,” she says, catching the girl’s attention by placing a gentle hand on her shoulder, “You wanna get out of here?”

“Yeah,” Kim mumbles, breathing out a sigh of relief and making a move to get up. Her mom’s hand on her arm stops her almost immediately.

“Do you know this woman?” The woman’s voice is stern, concerned, and Kimberly understands that -- even if the reality is so much more than what she could process, something that just can’t be explained to an outsider. Kim’s mom glances at Kimberly, her eyes narrowing in wariness.

For once, Kimberly hopes that her own mother doesn’t recognize her.

“I _do_ know her.” Kim stands up with defiant purpose, even though she’s shaking, and with one understanding look, Kimberly leads her out of the restaurant, her hand never leaving the girl’s shoulder the entire time.

 

* * *

 

Outside, there’s an empty bench in front of Rudy’s, where Kim lets herself be led to. She slumps down on the wooden seat, pulling her jacket closer around her chest. The bench creaks loudly as Kimberly sits down next to her, joining her in silence. Kimberly’s hand is still on her back; Kim can count every spot where her back and shoulder have been numbed for the past five minutes.

“You don’t have to say anything,” Kimberly says, softly, rubbing gentle circles on Kim’s back with her thumb. The action itself is so tender, so soothing, and so reminiscent of the way her mother used to comfort her as a child that Kim starts to tear up again. “Hey- c’mere.”

Kim falls into the hug easily, burying her face in Kimberly’s shoulder, tears streaming down her cheeks. Her body is numb, joints and limbs static, and she’s sure that if Kimberly wasn’t holding onto her, she’d just start floating and drift off into space. At least, that’d be a welcome death.

“It’s- it’s my fault,” she chokes out, voice half obscured by Kimberly’s shirt, her words turning into a sob.

Immediately, Kimberly pulls away, only slightly, and grips her by the shoulders, eyes searching her face. “No, it’s not--”

Kim looks away, shaking her head and wiping at her eyes with her jacket sleeve, “I’m not… the daughter they raised.” Her face scrunches up in frustration and disappointment, and she waves her hand at herself, “This? Is not who I was. I was… a good kid. I made good grades. I was in athletics. Made my parents proud and everything.”

“Look at me.” When Kim doesn’t obey and just shakes her head again, Kimberly takes a hand and moves Kim’s head by tilting her chin. She doesn’t try to fight it, sighing and reluctantly meeting Kimberly’s gaze. “You made a mistake.”

Kim scoffs, closing her eyes and leaning into the hand on her cheek. Her face is numb, but she doubts it wouldn’t not be if Kimberly wasn’t touching her, regardless. “I made more than one mistake,” she replies, softly, “The picture I sent was the first one my parents knew of. So, they… they started looking back and seeing what they’d ignored before. The fighting started after I got suspended for a little while from school. It came and went. And, then, the day we became Rangers… I got into a little thing, I guess, with some of the girls from the cheer squad, and I just- I randomly decided to cut my hair off.”

At that, Kimberly chuckles, “It looks beautiful.” Her eyes say that she means it.

“My parents hated it,” Kim mutters, frowning, “And the fighting started again.”

She shifts, making herself look as small as possible in her jacket. It’s not overly big enough to do the job and give her the warmth she wants, unfortunately. Sensing her desire for isolation, Kimberly’s hands fall away from her. Pink sparks fizzle out between them, and both women quickly cast glances around to make sure nobody in the parking lot noticed.

“I hung out with the wrong people under their noses. Snuck out of the house, went to parties that I shouldn’t have… They ended up blaming each other for me doing all that shit.”

“Divorce is never a kid’s fault,” Kimberly says with a firmness that tells Kim many things. These are words she’d said to herself, possibly, or words that had been said to her. “This has happened before, okay? My dad moved away, and I felt like shit for the longest time. My brother and I kept trying to figure out what we did wrong, what we could’ve changed to stop Dad from abandoning us… but, the truth is that Dad never abandoned us. He moved away, yeah, and our parents couldn’t work things out and weren’t in love with each other anymore, but that didn’t mean they stopped loving us.”

Kim huffs, her voice coming out bitter, “At least you had your brother.”

Kimberly reaches over and slips her hand into Kim’s, squeezing once, reassuringly.

“And you have me.”

Kim looks up at those words, her heart lightening in her chest. The sincerity in Kimberly’s eyes is absolutely heartwarming. And probably undeserving of her. “But, you’ve known me for, like, two days.”

Well, if even that. It hasn’t been a full twenty-four hours.

“I’ve known you for a lifetime,” Kimberly responds, shaking her head, a gentle smile brightening her features, “Because Kimberly Hart’s parents got divorced, and she survived that. She survived and became stronger from it, loved the world more for it. Her heart grew too big for her body. Big enough to hold the weight of the world on her shoulders.”

“I’m not that person,” Kim murmurs, loud denial radiating from the hunch in her shoulders. Her heart is big, but it’s not so big that she loves the world that much.

Kimberly squeezes her hand again, “You might not think you are, but you are, trust me. Kimberly Hart has been through this before, and she’ll power through it again because _you’re_ her.” She continues, her voice still soft but firm, strong, "Listen to me. This will pass. It’ll hurt like hell, but it _will_ pass. You're gonna get through it, okay? _We’re_ gonna get through it, alright? That weight of the world -- it was on my shoulders, once upon a time, but I had friends who helped me with that. I’m not gonna let you carry that alone. You need to give it to someone, ease a bit of the burden off? Give it to me. If you need to talk -- about this, about school, life, whatever, whenever, I want you to know that I'm here, and I'm not gonna leave you."

“That’s a big promise to make.”

“I always keep my word.” Kimberly lets go of Kim’s hand and reaches into her pocket, pulling out her phone, “Here- trade numbers. I’m available whenever, all the time.” She places her phone, unlocked and open to the New Contact screen, into Kim’s outstretched hand, “I mean it.”

Kim nods, a small smile on her lips, and hands off her own phone to Kimberly. “Alright,” she teases as she types in her name and, as an afterthought adds in a pink heart emoji at the end, “I’ll make sure to call you at three in the morning, then.”

“Mmmm, not unless you wanna find out how much scarier I can be on four hours of sleep.”

They both laugh as they give each other’s phones back. Kim glances at her screen and can’t help but grin at the matching pink heart emoji Kimberly had stuck on the end of her own contact name.

This is gonna suck, that much is certain, but at least, she knows she has someone.

 

* * *

 

The drive home was noticeably quieter with Kimberly driving and Tommy setting the music in the car to some soft pop from his phone.

Trini had adamantly tried to get out of setting on Kim’s lap again (“You need your space, okay?” “I’m _fine_. Besides, where the hell else would you sit?”), but in the end, Kim wouldn’t let down, so the two were squished together again in the backseat.

Jason’s house was closest to Rudy’s, so Kimberly dropped him off there first with some help from Tommy’s phone that kept pausing Ed Sheeran every few minutes to tell her to keep straight.

“Thanks again for this,” Jason says as he hops out of the Jeep, giving Kimberly and Tommy a quick fist bump as he goes, “And, uh, next time, we’re taking my truck as well. No offense, Tommy.”

“I second that,” Trini mutters, to which Kim giggles and pokes her in the side.

“What,” Zack calls out, leaning out of his side of the car, a grin plastered on his face, “Tired of me sitting on you?”

Jason rolls his eyes, reaching out to ruffle Zack’s hair, “Yeah, you wish, you dork.” With a short wave to the rest of them, he jogs up to his front door and disappears inside.

Kimberly heads to Billy’s house next, pulling up across the street. Billy hops out, leaving his middle seat empty for Trini to slide into with a relieved sigh.

“Thank you for dinner,” he says, beaming and giving Kimberly a side hug over the driver’s door at an awkward angle and Tommy a fist bump, “This was really nice.” The front door of his house opens, his mom’s silhouette illuminated by the backlight of the hallway, so Billy keeps the rest of his goodbyes brief before walking off to greet his mom.

The drive to Trini’s takes them across town, and in that duration, Trini nudges Kim in the side, whispering, “You doing okay?”

Kim shrugs, leaning her head back on the headrest, “Eh. Can’t wait to get to bed. I just have so much shit to do, but it’s whatever, y’know?”

From the driver’s seat, Kimberly mutters under her breath, “It’s not whatever.”

Kim kicks the back of her seat, earning a “Hey! Easy, I just got this baby cleaned!” from Tommy, and rolls her eyes, “Stop eavesdropping.”

“Can’t help it if you’re in _our_ car.”

Trini chuckles, “Yeah, I feel that. I’ve got a history test on Friday… kill me.”

“Yeah, sure. How d’you wanna go? I’ve only got knives at home, so,” Kim says, nonchalantly.

“You could super-punch her,” Zack pipes up from beside Trini; his eyes are closed, but he smirks, fully awake.

Trini reaches over and flicks him in the ear, “I’ll super-punch you, dweeb.”

The Jeep slows to the last turn into Trini’s neighborhood. “Sorry to interrupt your murder plans, Trini,” Kimberly says, an amused smile on her face, “But this is your stop. So, get out. Please.” She parks a few houses down as Trini had requested and waits for Kim to accommodate Trini climbing over her to exit the car.

“You could’ve gotten out, you know,” Trini mutters, closing the car door behind her.

Kim snorts and shakes her head, “Didn’t wanna move.”

“Lazyass.”

“Thanks, I try.”

Kim catches the edge of Trini’s shirt as she makes a move to leave, “Hey. Text me when you’re home safe.”

“It’s… literally down there,” Trini deadpans, pointing down the sidewalk.

Kim stares at her, silently, until she cracks under the pressure of being sternly looked at.

“Fine, fine,” she says with an exasperated sigh, throwing her hands up in the air, “It’s not like I’m a superhero or anything.”

“Even superheroes need help, sometimes,” Tommy chimes in.

“Whatever, _Dr._ Oliver.”

Once Trini’s out of sight, Kimberly puts the car into drive and turns around to leave the neighborhood. “Alright, where to next?”

“Kim’s,” Zack says, and at Kim’s confused glance, he teases, “Or did you forget about our _date_?”

Oh, that. She leans over and pinches him in the arm, “It’s not a _date_ , you dolt.” Kimberly and Tommy laugh from the front, and Kim repeats herself, pouting indignantly, “It’s _not_ a date. He’s just helping me with something.”

“Yeah, I told my mom Tommy was ‘helping me with something’ a _lot_ back in the day.”

“Didn’t get much studying done,” Tommy mumbles.

Kim rolls her eyes, “Whatever. You guys are gross.”

“Just wait ‘til you’re married, sweetie.”

“Huh, sure. At least I’ve got better taste in men.”

Kimberly comically gasps and glares at Kim in the rearview mirror, “Your tastes in men are _exactly_ like mine.”

“You know what?” Kim leans forward, ignoring Zack’s giggling and holding onto the back of Kimberly’s seat to speak directly in her ear, “We don’t _know_ that for sure. And, if they happen to be the same, I’ll pass on the marriage thing, then.”

Kimberly slams the brakes at the stop sign leading back onto the main street, and Kim gets the wind knocked out of her as her seat belt tightens _way_ too much.

“You did that on purpose!”

Her phone buzzes in her pocket.

_[T 10:02 PM] im home_

Kim types out a quick response.

Beside her, Zack grumbles, rubbing his shoulder where his seat belt had dug into it.

_[KH 10:02 PM] cool. kimberly’s being a dick driver._

_[T 10:02 PM] great u two can bond over that_

_[KH 10:02 PM] fck off._

“There was a stop sign there,” Kimberly says, faking innocence, but Kim can clearly see (and hear) her smirk.

“Gee, Kimmy, I think you’ve finally met your match,” Zack comments with a chuckle.

 

* * *

 

Half an hour later, Kimberly pulls up to the empty Hart residence, and Kim and Zack get out.

“Hold on,” Tommy calls out before Kim starts up the driveway.

Kim glances at Zack, who shrugs. “I can wait,” he says with a small smile.

She leans on the driver’s door and raises an eyebrow at Tommy, “Yeah?”

Tommy sighs, “When you and Kimberly were outside, your parents came over to our table and started… asking some questions.”

Both Kimberly’s mutter “shit” under their breath at the same time.

“Well, what’d you tell them?” Kim asks, wringing her hands together nervously. Kimberly notices and places her hand over Kim’s, which eases her anxiety a tiny bit. Even if she can’t feel her hands anymore.

“That we’re doing some community work with the disaster relief camp in the park and you kids were interested in helping out, so… we decided to chat it out over dinner.”

Kim shrugs. It’s not the _best_ lie, not that she’s sure there’s a best one for explaining why she and her friends were having dinner with two adults they just met a few days ago, anyway, but it works. “Yeah,” she nods, “I mean, that checks out. Jason and I are kinda stuck with doing, you know, a certain amount of community service, anyway, so. It’s chill.”

“That sounds all good to me,” Kimberly says, nodding in agreement, “I bet her parents weren’t too thrilled that I just dragged her off, though.”

“ _No_ , they were definitely not.”

Kim rolls her eyes and huffs, “I’ll handle my parents. We’ll just have to keep you guys away from them in the future.”

“Yeah, that’d probably be for the best. And, oh, I introduced you,” Tommy says to Kimberly, “as Oliver, not Hart. For obvious reasons.”

“Guess I’ll have to get used to dropping my brand,” Kimberly grumbles, faking a pout.

Kim scoffs, “Uh, Hart’s not a brand.”

“When I’ve won four gold medals for America under it… _yeah_ , it is.” Kimberly flashes her a smug grin.

“Show off.”

With a hug for Kimberly and a fist bump for Tommy, Kim gives them a short salute goodbye as they drive away. She turns around to Zack’s expectant gaze.

“You good?” he asks.

“My hand’s numb,” she responds, shrugging, “But, yeah. I’m cool.”

Zack grabs her hand as they walk up the driveway to her front door, rubbing some sensation into her palm with his thumb, and Kim struggles to mask her surprise.

“Gee, _Zack-man_ , if I didn’t know any better, I’d say this is your way of flirting with me,” she chances with an intrigued look, her stomach flipping.

“Mmmm,” is his noncommittal response, “You got your keys?”

Kim momentarily forgets her flustered state as she lets go of Zack’s hand and fishes in her pocket for her keys. “Duh. It’d be really awkward if I just had to stand here and wait for my parents.”

“There’s always your window.”

“Zack, I’m not sneaking in through my own window.”

“Why not?”

“Dignity.”

She presses a button on the remote on her keychain, disabling the house alarm before unlocking the front door and walking over the threshold. Kim flips on the foyer and living room lights. Behind her, Zack closes the door and locks it. Both of them automatically toe their shoes off next to the welcome mat, and Kim smiles to herself at sharing that cultural trait with him.

“Welcome to my humble abode,” she says, faking a proud, teasing smile and spreading her arms out wide as if she was showcasing the living room to Zack.

“Cool… you got any food?”

“Dude, we literally _just_ ate.” Kim smacks him in the stomach for good measure, and he fakes a pained grunt.

“ _Listen_ , I’m a teenager. We’re always hungry.”

Kim enters the kitchen, steps into the pantry, and grabs a box of Ritz crackers, throwing it at Zack with more force than necessary, “There’s your late night snack.”

“Sweet! I could kiss you.”

She stares at him, frowning, but inside, her stomach does another flip.

Zack opens the box and pulls out a cracker, devouring it in one bite. “Although, I bet you’d rather kiss Trini,” he says, wiggling his eyebrows, his mouth full of crumbled cracker.

“Disgusting,” she groans.

“So, not Trini?”

“No, not _that_. Swallow before you speak, dumbass.”

He chews for another second then swallows, clearing his throat, “Technically, you didn’t deny preferring to kiss Trini.”

“I’ll shove that box down your throat.”

Zack grabs another cracker, offers it to Kim, who declines, and munches on it.

Kim figures he’s going to be snacking for awhile, so she hops up on the kitchen island (something she definitely wouldn’t be allowed to do if Mom was home) and pulls her phone out of her pocket. The last thing her phone is open to is still her newest contact, which gives her an idea.

“Hey,” she swings her leg out and taps Zack’s side with her foot, “You think we should make a group chat with Kimberly and Tommy?”

Zack shrugs, “Sure, I guess. Wouldn’t hurt.”

“Alright, cool.”

She opens up a new message on her phone and starts typing.

 ** _Kimberly Hart_** _added_ ** _Jason Scott_** _,_ ** _Zack Taylor_** _,_ ** _Billy Cranston_** _,_ ** _Trini_** _, and_ ** _Kimberly Hart_** _to a group._

 **_Kimberly Hart_ ** _named the group:_ **_“idk i can’t think of anything witty rn.”_ **

**_Kimberly Hart_ ** _changed their name to_ **_Kimberly Oliver_ ** _._

 **_Kimberly Oliver_ ** _changed the group’s name to_ **_“The Ranger Bunch.”_ **

_[KH 10:46 PM] cute._

_[KO 10:46 PM] Why does Trini only have a first name???_

_[KH 10:46 PM] bc i only have one trini in my phone but like more than one jason, zack, or billy._

_[T 10:47 PM] sux princess_

_[KH 10:47 PM] don’t call her princess. that’s *our* thing._

_[T 10:47 PM] srry princess 2_

**_Kimberly Oliver_ ** _added_ **_555-4983_ ** _to the group._

 **_555-4983_ ** _changed their name to_ **_Tommy Oliver_** _._

_[ZT 10:47 PM] dr. ooooooooooo nice 2 see u again_

_[TO 10:47 PM] Thx. It’s been less than an hour._

_[ZT 10:48 PM] i kno :) hey kim u got any cheese?_

_[BC 10:48 PM] Why are you asking Kim for cheese?_

_[KH 10:48 PM] bc he’s in my kitchen being a fcking freeloader_

_[JS 10:48 PM] as he does best lol_

Kim looks up from her phone and scowls at Zack’s grinning face. “You’re _literally_ standing right in front of me. _And_ the fridge’s right... fucking... there,” she grumbles, “I’m not getting off the counter for you.”

Zack chuckles and sticks his phone and the box of crackers on the island, next to Kim, and opens the fridge, looking around in it. He decides on a wrapped slice of cheddar cheese, unwrapping it and tearing it into small cracker-sized pieces.

Both of their phones beep with a new notification at the same time.

_[JS 10:51 PM] uh did z get his cheese????? Cant handle the suspense._

_[KH 10:51 PM] yea he’s busy eating and giving me a stupid grin_

_[T 10:52 PM] smack it off his face_

_[TO 10:52 PM] This is nothing like what we were like in high school._

_[KO 10:53 PM] Millennials have evolved._

_[TO 10:53 PM] Babe, we’re millennials._

_[KO 10:53 PM] I said evolved._

_[JS 10:55 PM] hey just curious did you guys decide on that bet you took this afternoon_

_[KO 10:55 PM] Oh, yeah… totally forgot about that._

_[BC 10:55 PM] Yeah, it was underground *and* a spaceship! :D_

_[TO 10:56 PM] Hm._

Kim sets her phone down, bored with the conversation for now, and looks at Zack, who’s still eating. He offers her a cracker with a small piece of cheddar cheese torn off and placed on top of it.

“Are you gonna finish that whole box in my kitchen right now?” she asks before taking the cracker from him and eating it in one bite.

“I dunno. Would you let me?”

Kim shakes her head, keeping her mouth closed because she’s still chewing (unlike _someone_ ), and Zack sighs, closing the box and going into the pantry to put it away. When he reappears, he gobbles up the rest of the cheese pieces and tosses the wrapper into the trash can.

“Alright, so… I said I’d make your night better than Derek Shepherd could.”

Kim crosses her arms and raises her eyebrows at him, expectantly, “Does it involve you clearing out my pantry and fridge?”

Zack grins, “It _could_. But, no.” He rubs his hands together in suspense, “It involves you getting naked.”

Kim immediately scowls, opening her mouth to let an insult fly, but Zack puts up a finger and stops her, “Let me finish.”

She closes her mouth, her lips forming a deep frown.

“You said you haven’t showered in, like, four days, right?”

“Five, now.”

“Alright, then, well,” his voice gets softer, more serious, almost like a whisper even though they’re the only two in the house, “I was thinking… I’ve been taking care of my mom for some time, so I’ve got experience with, you know…” He trails off, awkwardly rubbing his neck, and shrugs.

Kim gets his meaning immediately, even if he dances around it, and she feels her ears heating up. She tries to look anywhere but at him and ends up looking at the wooden floor.

“ _Oh._ Uh, I mean, that’s so sweet of you to offer, Zack… but you don’t- you don’t have to,” she mumbles in response.

“I want to, Kim,” he says, so casually, like he’s talking about the weather, then adds as an afterthought, “But, you know, only if you’re comfortable with it.”

Only a second passes before Kim makes her decision, and she hops off of the counter, yanking Zack into a bone-crushing hug that only a Ranger could survive. She’s positive he can feel her heart pounding in her chest, but she couldn’t care less.

“I- I don’t know what to say...” she whispers against the fabric of his shirt.

Zack chuckles into her ear, “‘You’re totally my hero’ will do just fine.”

“Don’t push it.”

 

* * *

 

They migrate up to Kim’s room shortly after with Zack grabbing his shoes from the front door in case Kim’s parents decide to come home any time soon. His shoes go on the floor next to her dresser, and he himself goes on her bed, cuddling up with the stuffed puppy she has next to her pillows and hiding his face in it.

Kim busies herself with stripping off her clothes (well, and Trini’s shirt), tossing them in her hamper, and grabbing her towel from her closet.

“Don’t fall asleep on my bed,” she teases as she makes her way to the bathroom, “I kinda need it later.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m getting up,” he mumbles back in response.

Kim flips on the bathroom light and pulls the bathtub curtain back, hanging her towel up on the towel rack and slowly (and carefully -- she’s slipped before and isn’t risking Zack teasing her about it for the rest of forever if he witnesses it this one time) getting into the tub. She sits, pulling her knees up to her chest.

Zack is still in the doorway, his eyes glued to her mirror, but more specifically, the picture she has taped to it.

“I remember when we took that,” he says, fondly.

Kim snorts, “You say that like it was years ago and not two weeks ago.”

He shrugs, turning and kneeling next to the bathtub, and leans his arms on the edge, “Imagine being able to say that was ‘years ago,’ though… that’s so weird to think about.”

“Yeah, one day we’re gonna be like Kimberly and Tommy… hope I look _that_ good at that age.”

Zack stands and detaches the handheld showerhead before kneeling down to turn on the faucet, running his hand under the water a few times to make sure it’s the right temperature. When it gets to be hot enough that the water between her toes feels like the beginning of home, Zack switches the water flow to the handheld showerhead.

“I hope you look _that_ good at that age, too,” he smirks.

“Now you’re just messing with me.”

“I don’t know, am I?” At Kim’s glare, he grins, “Close your eyes.”

She does so, blocking out the world, save for the sounds around her. Kim isn’t entirely fond of the darkness, but she’s never been particularly scared of it. She normally doesn’t close her eyes while showering, lest she slips and breaks her neck or something, but here, she’s sitting, and she knows that Zack’s presence means safety.

So, she listens and feels.

Zack’s steady breathing. The faint beeping from the counter as Zack’s phone buzzes with notifications, probably from the group chat. Running water.

The air in the bathroom gradually getting humid. Zack’s gentle hand on her shoulder.

“Are you sure about this?”

“Yeah,” she says, nodding, eyes still closed, “I’m sure.”

Warm water hits her skin, spilling down her shoulder blades. Kim breathes out a soft sigh, one full of the tension she’d been carrying for the past few days. She loved the feel of water against her skin, the same reason why she spent some nights swimming in the lake by the quarry. But, the divorce had sapped her energy away, and honestly, laying in bed watching Netflix was easier to do than cleaning herself. Getting in wasn’t the hard part. Hell, even the actual shower wasn’t the hard part. But, getting out when she’d rather run a bath, slip under the surface, and stop existing for a solid minute, that’s it.

There’s a _click_ as Zack turns the water off and a soft _thump_ as he sets the showerhead down in the tub. Kim opens her eyes to see him popping the cap on her shampoo bottle and curiously sniffing it.

Kim tucks a strand of her wet hair behind her ear. “Strawberry,” she says, “as advertised on the label.”

“Nice. You’ll have to let me borrow it some time.” When she chuckles, he fakes a pout, “What? I mean, have you seen those Old Spice shampoo bottles? What the hell is ‘Steel Courage’ supposed to smell like?”

“Fragile male ego,” Kim replies without missing a beat.

Zack barks out a laugh, holding onto the edge of the tub to stop himself from falling over. He coughs, choking on his own laugh, and Kim waits, thoroughly amused, for him to recover. When he’s done laughing, he pours some shampoo into his palm and sticks the bottle back in the corner of the tub, “Eyes closed again.”

Kim closes her eyes and tries to relax as Zack runs his fingers through her hair, working the shampoo into her roots. Her body is tense; he can definitely feel it.

“Relax, Kim.”

She tries to think of something positive, but the only thing that immediately comes to her mind is a thought that she voices aloud. “What if not all of us make it to looking back ‘years ago’?”

His hand movements pause for a second, and when he speaks, his voice is flat, “That’s the _exact_ opposite of relaxing.”

“Yeah, I know, but--” Even with her eyes closed, Kim knows where Zack approximately is, so she reaches up and grabs his wrist, making him stop and _really_ listen. “I can’t… I can’t stop thinking about what Kimberly told us at dinner. About her Trini.”

Silence. Zack taking a deep breath. “I can’t, either.”

Kim opens her eyes and looks at him, and he pulls his hand out of her grasp to smooth her hair back, ignoring her protest that some shampoo in her eyes isn’t going to kill her. (An intergalactic space witch couldn’t kill her, so really.)

“I-I…” she sighs, “I just don’t know what I’d do if one of us died. If _any_ of us died.” An unspoken ‘again’ hangs off of the ledge of her words; her throat goes dry.

Zack avoids her gaze, but she can see that his eyes are welling up with tears, and the reality of it punches her in the gut. He’s got a lot more to care about now than just his mom. “Yeah, I get you,” he says, quietly, “It’d be like… a hole in the team or something.”

No, not just that. She remembers the heartache that crashed into her at the dinner table, just the sheer monstrosity of thinking of a world where Trini wasn’t alive… It should’ve been awkward for her, in the least, but Kim had been relieved beyond words when she’d convinced Trini to sit with her again on the way home. Having her arms wrapped around Trini’s waist had been so, so grounding, so calming and soothing. They were still alive.

“It’s more than that, Zack.”

He stares at her for a long moment, searching her eyes. “You like her,” he states. At her silence, he grumbles, “I imagined this going _much_ differently… Didn’t expect you to be naked when you finally told me, either.”

Kim forces out a dry chuckle at his attempt at a joke, but the air stays heavy. She figures that, well, she’s already got the ball rolling and it’s not like there’s going to be any other moment that she’s this vulnerable with him that could top the one they’re in now, so she continues.

“I don’t… like _just_ Trini,” she confesses, taking her words slow, hesitant, “I like you, too… And Jason. And Billy.”

Zack’s eyebrows raise and his eyes widen in surprise as he processes her words. “Oh.” And, then, “ _Oh._ ”

“Yeah.”

“Have you thought about telling Trini?”

She keeps her mouth shut, so he shrugs and goes back to working on her hair. When Zack’s sure he’s done all he can, he guides her into partially lying down in the tub as he turns the faucet back on.

“You can hold onto the tub, but don’t worry, Kim, I’ve got you.” He has one hand on her upper back and the other running through her hair as she sticks her scalp under the faucet.

_I’ve got you._

It runs around in her head like a mantra.

 

* * *

 

Her parents had come home sometime during her bath, so Kim skips blow drying her hair after Zack helps her out of the bathtub. She slips into a tank top and shorts as her pajamas and checks her phone; there’s a bunch of new messages from Jason and Trini alone in The Ranger Bunch group chat.

_[JS 11:12 PM] @kimberly and tommy are you guys still awake_

_[T 11:12 PM] bet theyre settlin their bet lol_

_[JS 11:13 PM] or maybe they’re asleep_

_[KO 11:19 PM] Not asleep._

_[T 11:20 PM] omg_

_[T 11:20 PM] where tf is zack omfg_

_[T 11:20 PM] ZACK_

_[JS 11:20 PM] holy shit_

_[JS 11:21 PM] THEY’RE HAVING SEX HOLY SHIT_

_[JS 11:21 PM] kim: “gross.”_

_[JS 11:21 PM] where is everyone…_

_[TO 11:22 PM] We’re not having sex._

_[T 11:22 PM] u forgot the “yet” in ur sentence_

_[TO 11:22 PM] I didn’t._

_[T 11:22 PM] sure jan_

A new message pops up, brightening her screen.

_[ZT 11:56 PM] r u kidding me… the 1 time im not online i miss smthn this gr8_

Kim looks up from her phone and glares at Zack, who just grins. “Gross.”

“That’s what Jason said you’d say,” he responds, cheekily.

Kim rolls her eyes and tosses her phone on her bed, walking over to where Zack’s leaning against her dresser. “You should go home,” she suggests, “It’s getting late, and we’ve all had a long day.”

He raises his eyebrow, “And speaking of things we should be doing but aren’t, you should talk to Trini.”

She punches him in the shoulder, and the audible _thump_ that resounds in the room is _so_ utterly satisfying.

“Ow--” Kim clamps a hand over Zack’s mouth before he ends up attracting her parents to her room with his shout. When she’s sure he’s quiet, she removes her hand from his mouth and glares at him.

“Look, I know I’m pretty obvious. But, apparently, not obvious enough for Trini.”

Zack scoffs, rubbing his shoulder, “That was the shoulder my seat belt _didn’t_ yank on. You’re so abusive.”

“Zack. The point.”

“The point is… I should be getting home.” He grabs his shoes and makes a move for her window, but she’s faster than him. She’s always been faster than him.

That and Zack isn’t as well-versed in the Depressed State that her room is in and ends up stumbling over a pile of her clothes on his way to the window.

Kim plants herself in his path and crosses her arms, staring him down. Up. He’s significantly taller.

“Why do you think I should talk to Trini, huh?”

“Because… if you’re obvious, then she’s obvious on steroids.” He smirks, “When you were, uh, talking with your parents earlier, she snapped her fork in half. And gave Billy a sore hand because she’s got a Vulcan death grip.”

Kim’s heart skips in her chest, and she blabbers, uselessly, “Oh, uh, well, I mean… she was worried about me.”

“Uh-huh.” Zack grabs her by the shoulders and gently pushes her aside, going over to the window and sliding it open.

“Besides,” he gets ready to jump outside, “there’s always a chance that talking to her would mean more than one person shares your feelings.” Then, with a wink, he’s gone, and Kim’s rushing to her window, grabbing at the ledge and sticking her head out, trying to process what he’d said.

On the ground, Zack is brushing himself off and pulling his shoes on.

“Zachary _Taylor_ ,” she hisses, keeping her voice low, in case of her parents, but she knows he can still hear her, “What the _hell_ does that mean?”

He glances at her and waves her question off with a flippant hand, pulling his phone out of his pocket. A moment passes, then her phone beeps on her bed.

Kim scrambles for it but scowls at the text when she reads it.

_[ZT 12:07 AM] im not the person u shuld b talkin 2 ;)_

_[KH 12:07 AM] ZACK. you said more than one person._

_[KH 12:07 AM] more than one (1)_

_[KH 12:07 AM] implying one (1) person already does………_

_[KH 12:07 AM] xfiles.mp3_

_[ZT 12:08 AM] do u wanna believe scully?_

Kim groans and throws her phone back on her bed, going over to peek out the window. Zack’s long gone.

His statement tugs at her thoughts. So, so many implications come from it, but the two that stick out to her the most…

She’s going to have a _long_ talk with Zack tomorrow. But, for now, she picks her phone back up and shoots off a text.

_[KH 12:10 AM] hey, you still up?_

A response returns immediately, and she almost drops her phone when the beep makes her jump.

_[T 12:10 AM] yea_

_[T 12:10 AM] do u need something?_

“Breathe, Kim,” she mutters to herself, “It’s cool. It’s cool.”

_[KH 12:11 AM] yeah. kinda. i need to talk to you. can i come over?_

_[T 12:11 AM] sure ill open my window_

_[T 12:11 AM] be quiet tho rents and bros are sleeping_

Kim’s grabbing a sweater from her closet to pull over her tank top before her text even finishes sending.

_[KH 12:12 AM] on my way. thanks._

 

* * *

 

Trini had given up on studying for her history test a good hour ago and resorted to scrolling through Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter, looking for instantaneous gratification.

A text pops up on her screen.

_[KH 12:31 AM] hey i’m almost there._

That’s her cue.

Trini drags herself out of bed and goes over to her window and opens it. Less than a moment later, Kim gracefully climbs through, landing on her feet. A noticeable wave of what smells like strawberry comes with her through the window.

“Did you take a shower?”

Kim raises an eyebrow at her, “What, no hello? Yes, I took a shower.”

“Hello,” she deadpans, “And that’s good. I’m proud of you.”

Kim visibly blushes and ducks her head, grinning.

Ah, fuck.

“So, uh, what’s up? What’s so important you had to come over…” Trini glances over Kim’s outfit -- an AGHS sweater and _very_ short exercise shorts (cue another ah, fuck moment), “in your pajamas?”

“Um,” Kim loses her grin and wrings her hands together, nervously, “You remember what Kimberly said during dinner? About you- I mean, the other you. Her version of you.”

Trini’s stomach drops, and her mouth deepens into a frown. Snapchat had been very effective in distracting her from thinking about that in the hours after dinner, especially since she and Jason spent the past hour or so adding the randomest shit to their seven-day streak.

“About me… other me dying. Yeah, it’d be hard to forget that.”

Kim’s brow furrows, and her fidgeting with her hands gets more antsy, if possible. She goes into full-blown rambling mode, “I can’t stop thinking about it. Like, the idea of how shitty that must’ve been for Kimberly. I can’t even imagine what went through her head, and just thinking about that- it made me start thinking about what if you died and I can’t… not after Billy--”

Trini grabs Kim’s hands in her own, firmly, “Hey. You’re floating away. Stay with me.”

She won’t lie, the idea of her dying… is terrifying. Absolutely, utterly terrifying, but there are things that scare her more than her own death. The knowledge of that alone helps ease her own anxiety. Slightly.

“I can’t _lose_ you,” Kim breathes, her words falling out of her mouth clumsily.

Trini’s heart pounds in her chest, but she tells herself that it’s not that. That’s not what Kim meant. _You’re reading into it too much,_ she thinks.

“I can’t lose you, either,” she responds, too casually.

Kim shakes her head and pulls her hands away, her features becoming frustrated. “No, it’s not- it’s not that.”

“I don’t get it,” she tries to catch Kim’s gaze but the other girl keeps looking away, lost in her own thoughts, “What is it, then?” Trini grabs Kim by the shoulders, making sure her grip is gentle instead of threatening, “Kim, look at me.”

Kim meets her eyes.

Then, surges forward and kisses her.

Nope, not reading into it too much.

Taken completely by surprise, Trini loses focus, and her back softly thumps against the wall as Kim’s momentum causes her to step backward. Kim’s lips are soft, and Trini tastes the slightest bit of minty toothpaste before it’s over, too rushed, too soon.

Kim steps away, blinking, surprised at herself, “Shit. _Shit._ I’m sorry- I didn’t. Fuck.”

“What the hell did you do that for?”

The moment the words are out of Trini’s mouth, she regrets them. _What the fuck? ‘What the hell did you do that for?’ Great going, Trini. Who says that? Dammit._

Kim throws her hands up in the air, as equally at a loss for words, “I don’t _know._ Maybe because I’ve been flirting with you for, like, _awhile._ But you’re so damn dense!”

“Keep your voice down!” She shushes Kim and pauses, waiting for a noise to indicate that her parents had woken up. When there’s no sound save for the two of them breathing, she looks back at Kim.

“You’re straight.”

Kim actually looks _offended_ , “Uh, did that feel straight to you?”

Well, she’s got Trini there.

Trini tries again and whispers as loud as she can, “How was I supposed to know you were flirting with me for real? You ‘flirt’ with Zack _all_ the time.”

Kim huffs, exasperated, “Because I _like_ Zack. And you and Jason and Billy.”

Oh. “Oh.”

“Yeah,” Kim echoes, “ _‘Oh.’_ ”

Her heart is racing in her chest, her brain going just as fast to process all of this, but Trini manages to rearrange her thoughts relatively well enough to voice them.

“You… like me. And the others.”

Kim nods, “Yep.”

“Everyone?”

“Everyone.”

“For how long?”

“I don’t know… awhile, I guess. Since Billy died.”

A thought occurs to her, and Trini visibly cringes at the stupidity of it. Kim, unfortunately, notices. “What is it?” she asks.

It’s a stupid thought. It really is, but the more Trini dwells on it in her head, the more it makes a ridiculous amount of sense.

But, on the downside, it’s _too_ real. Too logical.

“It’s nothing,” she lies, trying to deflect Kim’s attention, “Just a stupid… whatever.”

For once, Kim doesn’t let it go. (Does she ever?) “No, _tell_ me.”

“It’s stupid…” It’s going to fuck up whatever just happened between them. Figures that she’d ruin her first chance with a girl in over a year this quickly. And, it’s even worse this time.

“Trini. Come on. Whatever it is, it’s not stupid.”

This time, it’s Kim.

“I…” Trini sighs; she doesn’t really have a choice with Kim looking at her so expectantly, “I was just thinking that… seeing Billy die made you freak out and… that these feelings you have for us… they could be…”

She trails off, not wanting to say it.

But, Kim, of course, is going to force her to say it. “They could be what?”

Kim is just looking at her, half-patiently but her body language is clearly impatient, her fingers tapping at her sides.

_God, I’m really sorry._

“Not real,” she finishes, closing her eyes as her heart drops into her stomach. She hears nothing for a moment and, then, a sharp inhale as Kim breathes.

It sounds like a knife being twisted into Trini’s gut.

She chances opening her eyes, and Kim has taken two steps back from her, her fists clenched at her side, fingers no longer tapping.

“Is that- is that what you think of me?” Hurt flashes over Kim’s face; she tries hard to cover it up, but her eyes tear up, anyway.

God, fuck, this wasn’t how this was supposed to go.

“Kim--” Trini tries to take a step forward, but Kim holds up a hand to stop her. “I just meant… you know, sometimes, in the heat of the moment, you just feel things, and they… they stick around. And you think they feel real. I mean, we’re all- we’re all _really_ close.”

None of that came out even _close_ to what she wanted it to come out.

Kim’s gaze hardens, and she clenches her jaw. When she speaks, her voice could cut through glass. As is, it slices straight through Trini’s heart.

“I know what you meant.”

And, then, Trini blinks, and Kim’s hurling herself out the window, landing on the pavement below with the grace and lightness of a cat, taking Trini’s heart with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :) :) :)
> 
> Vote for Tomberly's wedding song that'll be featured in the next chapter! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1MRUbU1zTaMI84wUH41KXWS-PIFiEiosWDhPMqiC8VQ0/viewform?edit_requested=true
> 
> (I tried to make the table seating clear-ish through casual description during the dinner scene but for anyone who didn't catch it, starting from Kimberly and going clockwise/to her left: Kimberly, Tommy, Jason, Zack, Kim, Trini, and Billy.)


	8. A Fractured Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dealing with the fallout of her fight with Trini, Kim avoids her the next day, growing closer to Zack in the process. After training with the Rangers after school, Kimberly and Tommy sit in with them at their weekly campfire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me every time i write the previous chapter: man, this is the longest one i've written yet... i hope i can keep a steady average  
> me after i post the next chapter, which is always ridiculously longer than the previous one: guess again you idiot
> 
> Power Rangers (2017) is available NOW digitally through Amazon, YouTube, and iTunes (only iTunes Extras has the deleted scenes; the others don't)!!! Go buy it. Do it. Or wait for the DVD. Whichever.
> 
> [Kim voice from MMPR s1 ep2] This chapter is so '90s!

**_The Ranger Bunch_ **

_[KO 6:30 AM] Good morning, children._

_[KO 6:30 AM] We’re breaking our routine to say hi to you._

_[BC 6:30 AM] Morning! :)_

_[JS 6:30 AM] sup_

_[KH 6:30 AM] aww what morning routine?_

_[KO 6:30 AM] We don’t check our phones until breakfast. Don’t like rushing the beauty of the morning._

_[KH 6:30 AM] thats so poetic…. :’)_

_[KH 6:31 AM] and white lmao._

_[KO 6:31 AM] Thanks. You’re half-white._

_[KH 6:31 AM] listen..._

_[ZT 6:31 AM] wassup_

_[ZT 6:31 AM] is it a good morning bc u got dicked down last nite_

_[JS 6:31 AM] ZACK_

_[KH 6:31 AM] dUDE FUCKINF SHUT DIpdJFZI_

_[KH 6:31 AM] DISGUSTING_

_[BC 6:31 AM] Gross, Zack._

_[KH 6:32 AM] PLS DONT TALK ABOUT *BASICALLY* ME THAT WAY_

_[KO 6:33 AM] Disrespect to the name Zack Taylor._

_[KO 6:33 AM] Anyway._

_[KO 6:33 AM] Yes, we settled our bet lol._

_[KO 6:33 AM] No, I didn’t get “dicked down” last night._

_[ZT 6:34 AM] zzzzzzz boring suburban white couple_

_[JS 6:34 AM] zack ur rly sad if ur entertainment comes frm making jokes abt their sex life_

_[ZT 6:35 AM] they flirt like fckin rabbits round us soooooo i mEAN??/ wat do u want me 2 do?? im naturally curious_

_[JS 6:35 AM] idk try leaving them alone how abt that????_

_[TO 6:40 AM] I’m Native American, actually. Oliver is my adoptive name._

_[TO 6:40 AM] Also, since you’re “naturally curious,” Zack…_

_[TO 6:40 AM] Kimberly didn’t get “dicked down” last night._

_[TO 6:40 AM] I did._

_[ZT 6:41 AM] HOLY FUCK_

_[ZT 6:41 AM] *SIRENS GOING OFF*_

 

* * *

 

Trini rolls over in bed, fumbling for her phone somewhere on her bed. She finds it underneath her history textbook and switches it to silent, grumbling to herself. It’s _way_ too early in the morning for the group chat to be blowing up. Pulling herself into a sitting position, she sends off one message then throws her phone aside.

_[T 6:44 AM] u guys are all gross af_

She gets ready in record time, keeping herself focused on getting her clothes on one by one. It’s tough, but Trini manages to _not_ think about Kim the entire time she gets dressed.

Well, until now.

Fuck.

She licks her lips, remembering their kiss, or rather, Kim kissing her and pulling away too fast for her to even react, not that reacting would’ve changed what happened after that. Trini frowns, her mood properly soured for the morning already, no less than an hour after she’s woken up, even.

The run to school takes longer than normal because Trini stops at the quarry to try to quiet her mind, but focusing and letting go of the world just doesn’t want to happen today. Figures.

The cafeteria is mostly empty when Trini enters, so it’s glaringly easy to notice that Kim isn’t in their usual spot. She thinks “usual” as if they’d been in this routine for more than two days, but that’s just the thing. It’s been two days. Of course, a good thing wouldn’t last.

In fact, Kim is all the way across the room at one of the tables next to the glass doors leading out into the courtyard.

Her heart clenches, and a wave of hurt washes over her, that Kim would want to avoid her so much that she’d move all the way across the fucking room.

They don’t look at each other (Kim is hunched over her food, preoccupied with her phone, and has earbuds in, anyway), and Trini grabs her food and sits alone at what was their table for all two breakfasts together.

 

* * *

 

When Kim yanks her locker door open, Zack is suddenly on the other side of her, his arms crossed and a grin on his face. He takes one look at her sunglasses, though, and frowns, “Did you go drinking last night without me?”

Kim scowls at him and wordlessly lifts her sunglasses to reveal her tired, puffy eyes then covers them again.

“Whoa. What happened?” He reaches to touch her shoulder, but she pulls away, and he gets the message, dropping his arm back to his side. “Was it your parents?”

“No,” Kim grumbles, clearing her throat; it’s scratchy from her waking up this morning to an empty house and then taking advantage of that empty house to cry her lungs out and punch a hole into her wall, “It’s nothing.”

Zack leans closer, bowing his head to whisper to her, even though they’re in a hallway full of much louder kids and eavesdropping would be basically impossible, “It’s not ‘nothing.’ Just tell me what’s wrong. Please.”

She puts in the books she doesn’t need until after lunch then slams the locker door shut and looks at Zack, her eyes unreadable behind the sunglasses.

“Aliens don’t exist, Mulder,” Kim deadpans.

Zack straightens, his brow furrowing as he tries to make sense of her meaning, and when he finally gets it, his eyes widen. “Shit. Did you- you _talked_ to her?”

“Like the fucking idiot I am, yeah,” she sighs, shouldering her bag, “Right after you left, too, because I knew I wasn’t gonna get a single ounce of sleep with ‘more than one person’ on my mind.”

“Kim, I’m sorry--”

She holds up a hand and cuts him off, “It’s not your fault. I’m the one who made the choice to go to her house.”

“You went to her _house_? Wait, what even happened?”

Kim sighs and starts walking down the hall, Zack trailing behind her, “I don’t wanna talk about it. Not right now.”

“It didn’t go well,” Zack concludes.

“Yeah, it _didn’t_ go well!” Kim snaps, whirling around, broken fury scrawled all over her face, even with her eyes obscured. She keeps it up for one full second, the pinching of her features and the tightness of her shoulders that says she’s ready to murder someone, and then, her shoulders sag. It’s not worth it, anyway.

Hesitantly, Zack reaches out and pulls her into a hug, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. Kim doesn’t want to collapse into his touch right now, especially because they both have class, but she lets herself stop being so tense. Just for a moment.

“I just feel so _humiliated_ and stupid,” she mutters into his shirt. Her arms are at her sides, and Zack doesn’t seem to mind that she’s not hugging him back. And she knows he wouldn’t want her to feel obligated to, either.

All he says is, “I’m sorry, Kim.”

The ringing of the two-minute bell has Kim reluctantly pulling away from him. She pats him on the arm and shows her thanks through a small smile, “Don’t be late to class.” He nods in response and turns to leave.

Down the hallway, unseen by Kim and Zack even though she could see both of them, Trini grips her backpack straps harder, clenches her jaw, and turns, silently disappearing into her classroom.

 

* * *

 

“We should talk about moving.”

Tommy looks at his wife over his coffee mug and raises his eyebrows, “Is that your gut talking?”

Kimberly shrugs, “I don’t know, honestly. I just feel like…”

“Like we wouldn’t be here if we’re supposed to just pop in and leave,” he finishes for her, setting his mug down after taking a sip. Kimberly nods in agreement and stabs at her pancakes with her fork, frowns, then sighs.

“We know them, now, Tommy. We can’t just… leave.” He doesn’t miss the absent look in her eyes as she glances at some far-off space in the diner and knows without asking that she’s thinking about Kim. “I mean, Zack said Rita told them that more were coming, and from what Zordon filled us in on, it probably means more, you know, intergalactic space beings coming after the Zeo Crystal.”

“Zedd, most likely,” Tommy says, “‘cause there’s always someone higher than Rita.”

“Yeah, but there’s always someone lower, too,” Kimberly responds, quietly, meeting his eyes again, “You.”

He doesn’t want to think about that. “I wanna see if there’s a Tommy Oliver here before we start jumping to conclusions.”

Kimberly shifts in her seat and takes a sip of her coffee, scrunching her nose at the temperature of it. Tommy can’t help his grin, and when she notices, she scrunches her nose again. “Stop looking at me like that,” Kimberly whines, “You’re gonna make me blush.”

“You’re cute when you blush, so I don’t know how that’s a bad thing.”

“Shush… thanks.” Kimberly tucks a strand of her hair behind her ear, smiling faintly, “There’s also the possibility that Tommy Oliver hasn’t moved into town yet.”

Tommy ponders that for a moment, chewing on a piece of bacon, “That’s if everything goes the same as it went for us. Goldar was, uh, a little smaller when we were kids. And our Zordon didn’t look like an eighties’ toy.”

“Well, if this Rita’s anything like our Rita, she wouldn’t pass up on an opportunity to warp some poor soul into doing her dirty work,” Kimberly points out, waving her fork in the air.

“True. It didn’t just end with me, though. How long are you thinking?” They both know how it ended for them, technically. With Zordon’s heroic sacrifice, closing a chapter of their lives forever, even if they’d both been inactive by then.

Kimberly sets her fork down and rubs a hand over her face, sighing, “I don’t know, Tommy… There’s so much we don’t know, and what we do know… there’s a lot of that. Zedd, for one.”

“All those monsters. Scorpina. Rito. Master Vile.”

“Speaking of Vile…” A thoughtful look crosses Kimberly’s face, “Did Zordon ever say anything about _this_ Zeo Crystal? You know, while you guys were running all over the place looking for the other one.”

Tommy shakes his head, “No, nothing. I don’t… I’m not even sure Zordon knew about this crystal. The one that made the Zeo powers was on the moon the whole time.”

“And there’s nothing in your archives about this?”

“Nope. Not even when I used the Grid to make those archives. First time I’m hearing about _anything_ buried underneath Angel Grove.”

Kimberly reaches over the table and puts her hand over Tommy’s; his heart swells with the simplicity of the action. If only everything was always this easy. “How ‘bout this,” she says, “If something happens that’d keep us here for longer than the rest of the week, then we stay. If we make it to the end of the week and nothing’s gone wrong, then we go.”

It sounds ridiculous, but Tommy’s been a Ranger long enough to know the sheer amount of _stuff_ that could happen within one week. He’s had monster fight after monster fight for days with quizzes, school, and karate all thrown into one week alone.

It’s a miracle none of them didn’t die from the pure exhaustion alone.

“Long-term problem, we stay. Got it.”

Kimberly regards her plate of food with a worried frown, “And it’s only Wednesday.”

Tommy’s not sure if he _wants_ something to happen or not. It’d be kind of a waste if they came all this way for nothing, even if Reefside is only some hours away from Angel Grove. But, then again, if shit does hit the fan, then they’re going to have to ditch their lives back home.

But, he thinks, it’s probably a good thing that Angel Grove has always been their home, then.

“Yep,” he echoes, “Only Wednesday.”

 

* * *

 

Kim looks relatively normal by lunchtime, and she’d managed to stop herself from thinking too much about anything that’d cause her to break out crying in any of her classes. Mr. Jordan had made her remove her sunglasses in first period, but if he’d seen the puffiness of her eyes, he hadn’t commented on it. She wishes she could put them back on because she doesn’t want to put any effort into actually looking at anyone, but doing so would only mean some other teacher or principal would get her to take them off again later.

She’s just going to have to face it. Just like she has to face lunchtime.

Kim dreads lunch for an entirely different reason than she had two days ago. On Monday, she hadn’t wanted to face the others because of the shit she’d been going through -- is still going through. Now, she doesn’t want to face _Trini._

Thankfully, something saves her before she even gets to the cafeteria, though, right after the bell to start A lunch rings.

Or, rather, someone.

Her phone buzzes with a text.

_[KO 11:20 AM] Hey, what lunch do you have?_

Scrunching her nose in confusion, Kim squints at her phone and types a response back.

_[KH 11:20 AM] uh, first lunch. why?_

_[KO 11:20 AM] Got something for you. Come to the front office._

Kim finds it slightly weird that, somehow, Kimberly knows just when to catch her. As she makes her way to the front office and stops in front of Tommy and Kimberly, who are both wearing AGHS visitor stickers on their shirts, she points exactly that out.

“Are you stalking me?”

As she points everything out, voice dripping with sass.

Kimberly rolls her eyes and holds up a brown paper bag, “Not even in the slightest. I got you lunch. You’re not a vegetarian, right?”

“You watched me eat a burger yesterday,” Kim says, chuckling.

“Right.”

Tommy nudges Kimberly with his elbow, smirking, “Must be all that sex Zack thinks we’re having that’s got your memory jacked up.”

“Oh, _gross,_ don’t make me lose my appetite before I’ve even had anything to eat,” Kim mutters; she glances at the logo on the bag -- _Shiv Sagar_ \-- and widens her eyes, “You got me _Indian_ food?” She takes the bag and her mouth falls open a bit, “Oh, I could kiss you.”

“Uh, I’ll take a hug, thanks.”

“Yeah, I was hoping you’d say that, instead.”

They’ve never actually hugged while standing, so when Kimberly’s head only comes up to a little over her own shoulders as they pull each other into a firm hug, Kim chuckles, “God, you’re so short.”

She feels the slight hint of pressure as Kimberly “accidentally” kicks her shin and hisses in her ear, “Shut up.”

“Kimberly takes her height very seriously,” Tommy says, pretending to inspect his nails; Kimberly pulls away from the hug, a spark briefly flashing between her and Kim’s fingertips, and smacks her husband in the arm.

Kim’s whole body tingles with static energy; she wonders if that’s ever going to stop being weird as hell. “So, you drove all this way to get me,” she opens the bag and takes a whiff, eyes squinting in concentration as she separates the scents, “puri bhaji, bhelpuri, paneer pakora, and… uttapam?”

Kimberly actually looks slightly impressed, “Damn. That’s a good nose you’ve got there.”

“Well, I got it from somewhere,” Kim says, raising her eyebrows and chuckling, “But, still. All this way?” Not to say she’s not appreciative of the food -- Kim’s never been one to turn down food, especially _free_ food -- but there’s something more here. She knows Tommy and Kimberly are just about as anxious as she and the others are to find some answers, and since they’re not held back by the confinements of schooling hours, what better time to be investigating than when they’re free?

“As much as we enjoy chatting with you… no, not all this way,” Tommy responds, earning a sarcastic ‘oh, of course’ nod from Kim, “We’re here for the library.”

“You know there’s a library like a block down that way, right?” Kim asks, jabbing a thumb over her shoulder in ‘that way.’

“Oh, yeah, we know,” Kimberly says, crossing her arms, “But we’re looking for more… personal things that the public library’s not gonna have. Yearbooks. School newspapers.”

“Evidence. Of when you guys went here,” Kim concludes, catching onto the gist of their plan.

Kimberly shakes her head, “Exactly. I don’t know what it’ll mean whenever we find… whatever we find, but it’s a step in some direction. Hopefully, the right direction.”

“Well,” Kim shoots the couple a finger gun, “Good luck with that, then. I’ll go enjoy this now and maybe cry ‘cause you’re so good to me.”

“Aw, don’t cry. You deserve good things.”

Kim smiles warmly at hearing that and tells herself _not_ to cry. She really doesn’t deserve someone as sweet as… well, herself.

And, then, there’s Tommy.

“Yeah, don’t cry ‘cause then you’ll make Kimberly cry, too- _ow,_ you’re so abusive...”

 

* * *

 

The Power Geeks™ lunch table is its usual amount of rambunctiousness when Kim finally sits down, dropping her bag at her spot at the table. Lunch is already a little over ten minutes in, but she doesn’t stress over it. Leftovers would still be _heavenly_ later, especially since her mom hasn’t cooked in, well, weeks.

“Gee, Kimmy, if you’d have told us you were bringing us food, I wouldn’t have gotten these shitty chicken strips,” Zack says, cheekily, reaching for the bag. Kim smacks his hand away and then deals one on the back of his head just for good measure. Just because he’s Zack.

“Don’t touch my food,” she warns him with a stern finger, “Kimberly’s gift to me, not to you.”

“Kimberly was here?” Jason asks, his interest piqued.

“Yep. She and Tommy are checking out the library for… I dunno, _something_.”

“Probably answers for how they exist and, you know, we exist at the same time,” Trini says. Kim glances at her, but Trini’s intently focused on twirling spaghetti onto her fork.

Kim decides, right then, to ignore it. Thankfully, there hadn’t been a lab in Biology today, but if she _has_ to interact with Trini, then she will. If she doesn’t, she’s not gonna push it and make things unnecessarily frustrating.

There’s no point in dragging their shit out for the entire table to see. Zack _kind of_ knowing is already too much.

“Yeah, they said something about yearbooks. Student newsletters, stuff like that.” Kim takes a seat and opens the bag, her heart swelling with adoration. This pretty much ties as one of the sweetest things anyone’s ever done for her, especially given how long… short Kimberly’s known her.

That’s basically, like, three times three days in a row where Kimberly’s laid her heart out for her, Kim realizes with a start. Damn. She’s got some catching up to do otherwise she’s gonna start feeling like a guilty freeloader.

She’s shaken out of her thoughts by Zack reaching for the bag again; Kim grabs his wrist. “Do you know what patience is?” she asks, raising an eyebrow at him.

“A… virtue.”

“ _Wonderful._ Do you happen to have it?”

Zack grins and shakes his head, reminding her of an overly excited puppy, “Nah.” A very obnoxious puppy that needs an abundance of obedience training, she amends.

Sighing, Kim rolls her eyes and unpacks the four containers onto the table, tossing the bag on the floor next to her feet. “So, you guys ever had Indian food?”

Billy raises his hand, well, his finger and eagerly nods, “I have! But, I can’t do cheese because of the lactose thing.”

She smiles and pats him on the shoulder, “Yeah, I know, I got you.”

 

* * *

 

Thankfully, Kimberly and Tommy aren’t questioned about why they’re there when they slip into AGHS’s library. It, like the rest of the school, has definitely gone through a serious remodel since Kimberly had been a student here. A student worker at the check-in desk definitely sees them, but she couldn’t care less, especially when they both have visitor stickers on their shirts, and goes back to reading her book.

They glance around, finding the student-related shelves next to the reference section with ease, and Kimberly leads the way, pulling Tommy along by the hand. Her heart thumps heavily in her chest, and she lets go of Tommy’s hand to run her fingers over the spines of the yearbooks on the shelf.

1960s, 70s, 80s… 1990s.

Kimberly recognizes some of these spines -- their colors and textures -- because she has two of them on her bookshelf back in Reefside from her freshman and sophomore year. “I’ll, uh, check ‘94, you get ‘95?” she suggests, pulling out the 1994 yearbook and cracking it open. Tommy murmurs his agreement and does the same, skimming the pages.

She’s gone through this particular one so, so many times before, but doing so in the middle of what used to be her high school library while she’s in her late thirties with a teenaged doppelganger in the same building… it feels slightly surreal.

Well, more surreal than being an intergalactic rainbow-colored superhero, anyway.

Pausing when she gets to the freshmen section, Kimberly scans for a set of names, finding all six of them easily. “Hey, Tommy…” she taps him on the shoulder and glances over at his yearbook, seeing that he’s got it open to the sophomores.

“You found us?”

“Yep.”

Tommy flips through a few more pages, “Same over here. Rocky, Adam, and Tanya are in some of the extracurricular pages in the back.” He closes the yearbook, puts it back in its original place, and pulls out the one next to it. “Kat’s here, too,” he says with finality. Or, maybe it’s resignation.

Maybe it would’ve been more, what, more exciting? For them to not find themselves?

It would’ve made more sense, in some weird way, she thinks.

Kimberly trades the one in her hands for… the most recent one, 2016 sounds like a good enough guess. She skims the pages, taking mental notes in her head that she hopes she won’t forget later. These are the kids before they became Rangers, when they were still in their junior year. Jason on the football team, Zack in a sparse amount of pictures, Trini in close to nothing except for her student portrait, Billy in a plethora of science clubs, and Kim in cheerleading and theatre.

Kimberly checks for Trini’s last name and frowns, grumbling when she glances at the girl’s student portrait.

“What is it?” Tommy asks.

“Editor made a typo and forgot Trini’s last name,” Kimberly sighs, exasperated, with a roll of her eyes, “and she’s not in anything else, so there’s literally only one mention of her in the entire book.”

Tommy chuckles, trying to keep his laughter quiet.

“It’s not funny.”

“I don’t know, Kim, it’s _pretty_ funny…”

Tommy stops laughing when Kimberly reaches out and blindly smacks him in the arm without even so much as a look in his direction.

“The kids are in here,” she says, offhandedly, “There’s no… Thomas Oliver or Tommy Oliver. No Olivers, period.” Quickly, her brain buzzing faster than her body can respond to, she switches the yearbook again for the one before it -- the kids’ sophomore year.

This one tells a more different story. Jason Scott’s rising star status. No signs of Trini anywhere, even in the student portraits, probably because she hadn’t moved here yet. There’s plenty of pictures of Zack this time, heavily involved with the Chinese Student Association in parties, Multicultural Week, and dragon boat racing. The same amount of Billy, still in those same science clubs.

Kimberly’s flipping through the organizations section when she sees it. She pauses, fingers tracing over a group photo of the Indian Student Association, where a longer-haired Kimberly Hart, much like the one she’d seen in that article for the first time, stands in the front row. The caption underneath: _Kimberly Hart (Vice President)._

“You changed,” she murmurs to a picture that won’t talk back.

A sadness that feels a lot like losing herself did years ago settles in the bottom of her heart.

Kimberly snaps the yearbook shut and places it back on the shelf, biting on her lip as she arranges her thoughts. “What’s our next step?” she asks, casting a long glance at Tommy, “What does all of this mean?”

“It means…” Tommy trails off, uncertain.

So many things. Kimberly has _so_ many questions in her mind. Does the rest of Angel Grove know? Doesn’t anybody think that it’s weird that the residents of Angel Grove have come full circle? Is there nobody left in town who remembers a different time when six spandex-wearing superheroes saved the city over and over and over again?

Zordon would have an answer, she thinks, but their Zordon is dead and they’re just running around like chickens with their heads cut off.

“Is there anywhere else we can go? Anyone else we can talk to? Not to bring them into _this,_ but just…”

Just to talk. Kimberly’s always been a team player, and her and Tommy playing detective by themselves feels so horribly wrong, like everyone else in the world is gone.

They’ve always had each other for the past couple of years, but sometimes, that’s not always enough to not feel lost.

Tommy thinks about it for a moment and comes to a conclusion the same time Kimberly does, his eyes answering her question without words.

Time to pay a visit to an old friend in town.

 

* * *

 

Kimberly eyes the times on the door of Legacy Martial Arts Dojo, nudging Tommy with her elbow. “Looks like it’s open right now,” she says, pushing the door in and walking over the threshold. A bell chimes overhead, announcing their arrival.

The dojo is well-kept and illuminated, the walls painted a soft, creamy yellow. Kimberly notices pieces of the owner’s influence on the walls leading further into the building -- pictures of him with his students, posters of annual martial arts competitions previously hosted at the dojo, motivational posters about never giving up. Her eye catches on a particular poster, and she points it out to Tommy.

“‘You might not have power, but with a fighting spirit, you’re still a Power Ranger at heart’?” she reads, aloud, chuckling at the image on the poster. It looks _suspiciously_ like a picture they’d taken way back when in the park for the news one sunny day, all six of them in heroic action poses, suited up and mysterious in their helmets.

“Don’t make fun of him,” Tommy says in a faked scolding tone, “You had a _‘signed’_ poster from the ‘Pink Ranger’ in your office for the longest time.”

Kimberly crosses her arms and pouts, “Shut up… it’s _still_ in my office. As if I’d ever take it down. The artwork was from a _fan._ I appreciate my fans.”

They continue walking, coming into the main area where the floor transitions from laminated wood to padded foam. There’s nobody in sight, so Kimberly and Tommy stop, toeing off their shoes before stepping onto the foam.

“You think he’s around?” she asks in the silence.

Tommy shrugs and murmurs back, “Probably in the back or something.”

Speaking of the devil, a voice drifts out from one of the two hallways leading into, presumably, the back of the dojo, getting closer as its owner approaches, “I appreciate the dedication, but you’re a little early for class--”

It’s only been about two years, but her breath still catches, if only for a second, at the sound of his voice.

The man steps out into the main area, dressed in a casual light green t-shirt and black basketball shorts, and stops in his tracks at the sight of them. He has a few more wrinkles around his eyes since she last saw him on a Skype video chat last year and his hair has gone through a crop cut again, but besides that, he’s still the same.

“Kimberly? Tommy?” He almost sounds stunned. Which makes sense, given she and Tommy didn’t bother calling ahead to let him know they were coming.

Tommy had suggested doing so, but she had wanted to make their visit a surprise.

“Hey, Adam,” Kimberly greets, her face breaking out into a grin.

 

* * *

 

Unlike Kim, Jason’s English class is just finishing up The Great Gatsby instead of starting it, so he lays his head on his desk and goes on his phone, turning it to the lowest brightness possible as Ms. Malone plays The Great Gatsby on the projector screen.

Sure, Leonardo DiCaprio is cool and all, but Jason would rather watch something else of his like Titanic or Romeo + Juliet or Inception.

**_Power Geeks™_ **

_[JS 12:13 PM] hey i know we didnt have a campfire get-together last week bc everyone was so busy but how does tonight sound?_

_[JS 12:13 PM] bcus u know wednesdays are middle of the week & everything _

_[ZT 12:14 PM] sounds gud 2 me_

_[KH 12:14 PM] same._

_[KH 12:14 PM] should we invite kimberly and tommy?_

_[ZT 12:15 PM] So Many Opinions on how u nvr stop thinkin abt the other u ;)_

_[KH 12:16 PM] i know where your classroom is “””zack-man”””.... A206._

_[ZT 12:16 PM] empty threats_

_[ZT 12:16 PM] but yea its all good id luv 4 lovebird central 2 b there_

_[T 12:16 PM] both r fine w/ me too jay_

_[JS 12:17 PM] cool cool ill ask billy after class but im sure he’d be chill w/ it too_

 

* * *

 

“They’re _just_ like you?” The look on Adam’s face is priceless; Kimberly can tell he doesn’t exactly believe it.

“Well, not _exactly_ like us,” she says, shrugging, “They look different, but their names, their personalities, their lives _kinda._ Like, the _essence,_ you know?”

“Not to mention they’ve got a Zordon and an Alpha 5, just like we did,” Tommy adds.

Adam’s next class hasn’t started yet, so they’ve all got some time to kill. Kimberly and Tommy had taken to one of the benches, and Adam -- being Adam -- had plopped down on the floor, crossing his legs and listening with rapt attention as they told him about who the new Power Rangers in town were.

“I mean, I guess it makes sense,” Adam concludes, nodding his head slowly, “I should’ve figured when I saw them when the attack happened. It just felt… weird. And, then, after, when I saw pictures and clips of them on the news, I just felt like something was off, you know? The way the armor looked, the Zords. It was all familiar, sorta. Like a stranger on the bus.”

A stranger on the bus. That sounded right for some reason, especially considering Adam hadn’t known Zack or Trini for very long. They were all friends with each other after retiring, but some of them tended to keep to their teammates rather than branching out. Kimberly could relate to that, after all, since the only other Rangers she consistently _really_ talked to besides her teammates, Kat, and Tanya were the Dino Thunder kids.

There was always something familiar about people who had once been part of a team together.

“We didn’t wanna involve you in anything in case, well… in case there isn’t anything _to_ get involved in,” Tommy says, “Kim and I are still trying to sort all of this out. Whatever ‘this’ is.”

Kimberly’s phone buzzes, and she pulls it out of her pocket, checking the screen.

**_The Ranger Bunch_ **

_[JS 12:23 PM] @Kimberly Oliver @Tommy Oliver hey so the 5 of us started like this… weekly campfire tradition up in the quarry and we wanted to know if u wanted to join us? it’d be later tonight probs 7 or 8pm? we could totes see what ur made of in the pit too beforehand for funsies_

_[KH 12:23 PM] you can say no btw_

_[KH 12:23 PM] jay would only cry a little_

_[JS 12:24 PM] shut??? up??? leave me alone_

_[KO 12:24 PM] What’s the pit…? Sounds not at alllll ominous._

_[KH 12:24 PM] TAKE THEM TO THE PIT_

_[KH 12:25 PM] sorry inside joke. it’s where we train under the quarry._

“The kids invited us to some training and a little campfire get-together thing they’re doing tonight,” she reports, raising her eyebrows at Tommy, “You wanna go?”

“Yeah, sure,” her husband shrugs, “Sounds like it’d be fun.”

She murmurs her confirmation and taps out a text on her screen.

_[KO 12:26 PM] Alright, count us in. :)_

“So, they’re ‘the kids’ now?” Adam asks, chuckling; he jokingly nudges Tommy’s foot with his own, “You should’ve told me you adopted five teenagers! I would’ve had gifts ready.”

Tommy cracks a wry smile, “Hey, she didn’t tell me we were adopting, either.”

“Well, being a Ranger _is_ being part of a family by default,” Kimberly says, smiling, “You know, a very big, multi-colored family. Where half of it’s just married couples.”

Her phone -- and Tommy’s -- beeps again.

“Man, you guys are popular,” Adam teases with a grin.

“I’m pretty sure they’re in class right now…” Kimberly mutters, rolling her eyes, “Which means they shouldn’t even be _texting_ anyway.”

_[ZT 12:27 PM] cool beans_

_[KH 12:28 PM] i can take the others in my car so we don’t all have to cram in tommy’s jeep._

_[JS 12:29 PM] cool then its settled_

_[JS 12:29 PM] lets set the time at uhhhh idk 5pm @ the quarry and we can go from there_

_[JS 12:29 PM] anyone driving w/ kim meet @ her house at like 4:20?_

_[JS 12:29 PM] shut up zack_

_[ZT 12:30 PM] iw asnt eVEN GONNA SAY ANYTHIN_

_[TO 12:30 PM] Blaze it_

_[JS 12:30 PM] thx dr. o :/_

_[TO 12:30 PM] You’re welcome._

Kimberly glances up, takes one look at her husband’s shit-eating grin, and reaches over, pinching him in the arm, “ _Real_ mature.”

_[KO 12:31 PM] Alright. See you guys then. Also, stop texting in class._

_[KH 12:31 PM] ok Mom_

 

* * *

 

Kim can’t focus. Well, she can’t focus more than usual, anyway. For the rest of the day, she keeps checking her phone, even when it hasn’t vibrated for hours with any new updates from either group chat she’s in. It bothers her throughout Stats and Theatre, which is ridiculous because the whole class spends the entire final fifty minutes of the day with the desks pushed up against the wall, standing in an improv circle in the middle of the room.

Even with her mind preoccupied with improv exercises, she still checks her phone every few minutes. Mr. Olson’s pretty lax with his students using their phones during class, but even he has boundaries and tells her to put it up in her bag before he confiscates it.

The day _finally_ ends with the bell, startling Kim out of her skin.

She checks her phone again, and Jason’s left a message in The Ranger Bunch group chat.

_[JS 2:41 PM] billy says hes cool w/ training/campfire starting @ 5_

Okay. Good, that gives her a little less than two hours to get home and do some homework before driving everyone to the quarry.

Or take a nap…

She’s gonna take a nap.

 

* * *

 

Trini hates that she hadn’t voiced her protest at riding in Kim’s car to the quarry for the night, but in hindsight, being the only person who was opposed to Kim driving them all would make her horribly stand out, and she wasn’t ready to be put on the spot.

Plus, it’d just make things _more_ awkward. If possible.

She approaches the Hart house from down the street, hands fiddling with her backpack straps. As she gets closer, she sees that Kim is waiting, right where she said she’d be in the group chat, next to her BMW. Trini sighs to herself and groans. Nobody else seems to be in Kim’s driveway yet. Figures she’d be the first fucking one there.

Taking a deep breath, Trini shuffles up the driveway, stopping a little bit before she gets to where Kim’s car is parked. She tries so hard not to just stare at Kim, but that proves harder than initially thought. Kim, though, isn’t even looking at her; she’s leaning against the driver’s door, her keys in one hand and her phone in the other. Trini hears the faint _bing_ sounds of Kim tapping away at a game.

She tries not to notice the fact that Kim is wearing the same pair of gym shorts from last night along with a tank top that shows off more of Kim’s arms than Trini wants to see right now.

Funny how that works. She actually _doesn’t_ want to see Kim’s body. Mostly because it doesn’t do anything to help the situation.

God, this is so awkward. It feels like the tension is going to stab her in the stomach.

She _has_ to say something. This is the first time she and Kim have been alone all day long, and she has to fix what happened last night. Trini still stands by the idea -- it was a _valid_ concern -- but her execution had been terrible.

Her hands tighten around her backpack straps.

“Kim--” she starts, voice barely above a whisper. Too soft, too hesitant. Her throat is dry.

“Don’t.”

It comes out sharp, ready to kill, and the world is pulled out from underneath Trini’s feet. Kim doesn’t even shift or move, still entirely focused on her phone. Doesn’t even look at her. If they hadn’t been the only two people around, Trini might’ve thought someone else besides Kim had spoken.

She briefly considers trying harder, trying to get even one word in because maybe then, Kim would listen to her. But, on second thought, Trini decides not to pursue that road.

“Okay,” she murmurs, nodding more to herself than Kim. _Okay, I understand,_ is what she means, _This conversation is over._

It’s all going to blow over. It has to, eventually, but Trini’s mind anxiously nags at her. What if it breaks into their morphing? Can that even happen? Once they’ve all bonded, can it be broken?

She can’t help but think that, if it is possible for their connection to fail, then it’d be her fault.

 

* * *

 

The drive to the quarry is nearly thirty minutes of pure, internal agony for Kim.

She’d acted on impulse, shutting Trini down like that in her driveway, and she now feels terrible for it the whole way, especially since every time she looks in the rearview mirror, Trini pointedly glances out one of the windows or strikes up chit-chat with Zack or Jason, who she’s squished between.

Billy’s thankfully oblivious to her frustrations and is pretty content after Kim had let him plug her aux cord into his phone, playing a playlist full of soft country tunes. He hums under his breath and, despite her glum mood, Kim can’t stop herself from doing the same whenever she catches a song she knows or, if she doesn’t know it at the beginning, after she easily picks up the rhythm with a trained musically-inclined ear.

Jason is different. He might not know _exactly_ that something’s going on, but being the leader (or as good of one as he’s trying to be), he can definitely sense at least the _edge_ of a problem between her and Trini. The one time she meets his eyes in the rearview mirror, she sees his silent question and makes a point of not looking at him again until they get to the quarry.

Zack just flat out knows. He sits on Trini’s left, so every time Kim glances at the rearview mirror, his eyes are the first she sees. And he _knows_ how uncomfortable the air must feel to her and Trini, and Kim hates it. She almost wishes she hadn’t told him about last night, wishes she hadn’t told him about her feelings at all.

She also wishes she hadn’t gone to Trini’s house, but it’s not like she can take it back now.

 

* * *

 

When Kim has parked her car and they’ve made their way up to the ravine, the kids find that Tommy and Kimberly are already there, suited up in their scuba gear. As expected, the ropes Jason had attached to the nearby tree hadn’t been disturbed. Nobody ever went up around this area, anyway, except for, of course, five weirdo superheroes. And, now, their pseudo parents.

“You know, I kinda thought you were gonna be late,” Kim muses, glancing at Tommy and Kimberly.

“He’s never late whenever I go somewhere with him,” Kimberly responds, chuckling, “Which means we have to go everywhere together because he’s chronically late.”

Tommy looks at his wife for a moment, his mouth open as if he’s about to defend himself, but then he shakes his head, “You know what, you’re right.”

“Oh, I _know_ I am.”

As Jason goes to help Tommy and Kimberly hook themselves up to the ropes, Tommy glances at the edge of the ravine. “I don’t know how, but we’ve gotta find a way to get me and Kim down there without… all this extra crap.”

Billy pipes up, raising his hand, “Oh! I have an idea for that. I need to talk to Alpha about all the details, but if we can get it done, you guys can ride down there in an elevator.”

“An elevator? Down _there_?” Tommy asks, raising his eyebrows incredulously.

“It’ll be waterproof,” Billy states.

Tommy glances at Kimberly, who shrugs. “He’s Billy,” she says as if that explains everything. Which it does.

Kimberly pulls on her mask and snorkel and steps up to the edge of the ravine, “Alright, let’s get this done so I can get dry faster.”

The moment Tommy opens his mouth to say something, most likely euphemistic, Kim shoves past him, smacking him on the arm, “Don’t even _think_ it.”

Tommy chuckles, looking after her. “I was already thinking it,” he calls out, drawing out a sigh from Kim and an eyeroll that he can sense without seeing it.

Kim peers over the edge, gesturing with an arm to Kimberly, “Ladies first.”

With a laugh, Kimberly shakes her head, “Oh, please, don’t try to be polite now. We’re going _together_.” She reaches out, grabbing the hem of Kim’s shirt, and pulls, yanking her along as she jumps off the ledge.

Faintly, the other Rangers can hear Kim’s “I fucking _hate_ you!” as she falls and splashes down in the water below.

 

* * *

 

“I’m _never_ forgiving you for that.” Kim glares at her when they land in the cave leading to the spaceship, and Kimberly only chuckles.

“Promises, promises.”

Kimberly’s landing had been less than graceful, but at least it hurt less than it had yesterday. The other Rangers had varying degrees of luck with Kim still being the only one to land on her feet. Kimberly would be lying if she said it didn’t make her a little proud. And jealous.

She strips off her gear, searching through the pockets of her diving suit for what she is looking for. Her hand closes around a waterproof pouch, and she pulls it out, inspecting the communicator inside.

“What’s that?” Billy asks.

“It’s a, uh, communicator from when Tommy and I were Rangers. Our Billy built them for us to talk to Zordon and Alpha and teleport to and from the Command Center.”

“Teleport?” Jason raises his eyebrows, “Like… ‘Scotty, beam us up’?”

Kimberly chuckles, “Uh, yeah, like that. Tommy and I were hoping that Alpha could take a look at it and come up with something similar for you guys.”

The excitement on Zack’s face could light up a room. It just about lights up the cavern as he zooms past Trini and Jason, his whoops of joy echoing off of the walls, “I’m gonna be Captain Kirk!”

“I thought I… was Captain Kirk,” Jason pouts; he glances at Trini, “I’m Kirk, aren’t I?”

Trini pats him on the arm and follows Zack into the cavern, “You’re just you. Unfortunately.”

 

* * *

 

Kim and Jason lead the others through the spaceship and out into The Pit, dropping Billy off in the ship to go over the details of his… elevator and Kimberly’s communicator with Alpha 5. Jason lugs a small gym bag full of towels and water bottles that they’d started stashing in the ship after becoming Rangers since it had become too tiring and time-consuming to just bring crap down with them everyday.

As they all come into The Pit, Kimberly whistles lowly, “Nice place… doesn’t live up to its name, though. I was expecting hellish rings of fire. Swinging pendulums. Stuff like that.”

Kim snorts, “Sure, we’ll get Alpha to spiff it up a little.”

Tommy nudges Kimberly in the side, “You’re forgetting we don’t have superpowers, babe.”

“I don’t need superpowers,” Kimberly comments, and the confidence in her voice has Kim amused. Oh, boy.

“Alpha,” Kim calls out, “Give us a Putty.”

The space in the middle of the floor shimmers, the air distorting and flickering blue. The dirt and pebbles shift and move, centering on one spot where a hologram appears of rocks tumbling onto each other, towering up to build…

“God, that’s ten feet of pure ugly,” Kimberly mutters, frowning, disgusted.

“Still think we don’t need superpowers?” Tommy asks, eyeing the Putty warily as it glares menacingly at them but stays still in the middle of The Pit, “I’ll take this one first, if you don’t mind.”

Kimberly waves a hand at him, “Nah, feel free. I wanna see how you hold up to a super-sized golem.”

Kim and the others sit down on the ground with Kim making sure she puts some distance between her and Trini. The other girl seems to have the same exact idea, so Kim ends up on Zack’s left and Trini ends up on Jason’s right with the boys next to each other.

“I think you could do without superpowers. Or you could get your ass kicked,” she muses, grinning cheekily, “We did… okay. But, also, we’re stronger than regular people, so.”

Kimberly rolls her eyes at her. “Honey,” she drawls, putting her hand on Tommy’s arm, “We aren’t regular people.”

He grins and pulls off his sweater, tossing it on the ground to reveal a dark green tank top.

It’s the first time any of them -- well, besides Kimberly, of course -- have seen Tommy in anything but long sleeves, and Kim hates herself for the way her mouth falls open at his, uh, very muscled arms.

She can’t help herself and blurts out, “Holy shit.”

_Damn, Kim, pull it together._

Zack leans over and whispers to her, “Thirsty, Kimmy?”

She almost smacks him until he holds up a water bottle, still grinning at her. Kim snatches it out of his hands.

Asshole.

Tommy only laughs at her comment and rolls his shoulders; Kimberly gives him a peck on the cheek, “Good luck.”

“He’s gonna need it,” Jason mutters.

As it turns out, he does need it.

Tommy gives the Putty a once-over then charges straight at it, yelling a tough battle cry at the top of his lungs. The Putty tries to swat at him, but he ducks under its arm and punches it in the side. His fist has no visible effect on the Putty besides probably tickling it.

It turns to face him, and his face is pure comedy gold. Kim can’t help the giggle that bursts from her lips. God, if only she could Snapchat quality Ranger shit like this.

The Putty doesn’t miss the second time, and Tommy goes flying with a shout, skidding to a stop on his back in front of the Rangers.

“Ouch, that looked rough, dude,” Jason comments, getting up and helping Tommy to his feet, “You good?”

“They don’t make ‘em like they used to,” is all Tommy says, huffing in response. “And, Jason, _don’t_ call me dude.”

Kimberly brushes a bit of dirt off of his shirt, “Anything broken?”

“Uh, no, I don’t think so. Just… lemme catch my breath.” He winces, pressing a hand to his side, then straightens up.

“You know,” Kim calls out, “It took us, like, days to beat these guys without getting our asses kicked, so. Don’t feel bad if you can’t.”

Tommy ignores her with a wave of his hand and walks, instead of running this time, back into the fray.

He takes it slower, now, bouncing on the balls of his feet, his hands clenched into fists in front of his chest. Kim doesn’t even need to look at his physique -- although, that definitely wouldn’t hurt, but Jesus Christ, she needs to focus -- to get the vibe that he’s more experienced than the rest of them. Jason may have taken some martial arts as a kid before he stopped in middle school, and Trini -- she’d done so well _not_ thinking about Trini -- may have been in some fights from her previous schools, but neither of them hold a candle to Tommy Oliver.

“He just… _breathes_ finesse,” Kim comments under her breath to Zack, “Right? You see it?”

“I see you having a lil’ crush,” Zack snickers.

“Shut _up._ Use your eyes.”

“Oh, I’m _using_ my eyes.”

Tommy circles the Putty, ducking and rolling out of the way whenever it swipes at him and sidestepping (well, more like side-hopping) whenever it slams a giant fist down where he’d been standing. After a few minutes of this back-and-forth and a couple of close calls, Tommy abruptly changes routine and ducks, scrambling between the Putty’s legs and breaking out into a run for the back wall.

“What the hell is this fool doing?” Trini asks, scoffing, “He’s just gonna get himself cornered.”

Kim glances at Kimberly. She doesn’t look particularly perturbed, though.

“He’s thinking with his brain instead of his fists,” Kimberly responds, simply.

“He’s gonna get wrecked,” Kim mutters. Instinctively, she grabs Zack’s hand out of anxiety and grips it firmly.

“Subtle,” he whispers low enough so that only she can hear.

Yeah, she’s definitely subtle.

The Putty chases after Tommy, thudding thunderously on the ground. Tommy keeps his momentum, even as the Putty gains on his tail. The wall is in right in front of him now, and Tommy scales it easily, using the wall to backflip over his opponent. He lands perfectly on his feet and doesn’t give the Putty time to process the move he just made, jumping into the air and delivering a well-placed kick with both of his feet to a spot on its upper back.

As Tommy lands on his side and scrambles to his feet, breathing heavily, the Putty stumbles and bangs its head on the wall, disoriented. He takes the opportunity of its confusion to attack its left leg, stomping at it vigorously. Pieces of rock come loose, but Tommy doesn’t get any closer to actually disabling it.

Not with his significantly disadvantaged human strength, at least.

“He’s gonna get wrecked,” Kim repeats, unconvinced that Tommy in any way has the upper hand here.

“No, he’s not,” Kimberly says, firmly, then calls out, “Alpha, pause the simulation, please.”

The hologram of the Putty shimmers, and all motion stops. Tommy’s foot goes straight through the Putty, and he stumbles, yelping in surprise, then recovers, shooting Kimberly a frustrated pout as he drags his feet back to where the Rangers are sitting, “You could’ve warned me.”

“I don’t think there’s really any kind of warning for that,” Kimberly drawls with a smirk, parroting his words from yesterday back at him. “How’re you feeling?” she asks, a look of concern slipping onto her features as she ghosts her fingers over a fresh cut on his shoulder.

“Like that hangover we had when--” He cuts himself off and glances at Kim and the others then presses his lips into a thin line. Kimberly seems to get his reference, though, and giggles, clearly remembering whatever hangover that was _pretty_ well.

“When _what_?” Zack inquires, raising his eyebrows in interest, unable to resist the temptation of an unfinished sentence.

Kim drops Zack’s hand and puts her hands back in her lap, rolling her eyes. Classic Zack.

“When nothing,” Kimberly finishes for him. She pats Tommy on the chest and leans up on her toes, pressing a soft kiss to his lips.

“ _Ugh,_ gross,” Jason teases, snickering and shooting Kim an amused glance.

Kim glares at him, only to tear her gaze away just a second later because she’d forgotten that looking at Jason meant also seeing Trini laugh at Jason poking fun of her.

Their eyes don’t meet.

“I’m tagging you out,” Kimberly says with a wide grin, “I’ll take a whack at Ben Grimm myself.”

“He’s a tough cookie,” Tommy replies, shrugging, “But good luck. I believe in you.”

Kim snorts, “I believe you both are gonna terribly fail. Especially since you don’t have superpowers.”

Kimberly quirks an eyebrow at her and shakes her head, “Sweetie, I don’t _need_ superpowers.” In one fluid motion, she yanks her shirt off, showing a bright red sports bra underneath and-

Kim chokes on air, coughing and clearing her throat. Beside her, Zack giggles at her reaction, but at the same time, he grins widely -- a little _too_ widely if Kim has anything to say about it -- at the sight of Kimberly’s body. She chances a glance at Jason and, most importantly, Trini to see that Jason’s normally relatively Zen-ish, sometimes-stoic demeanor is replaced by completely _floored_ awe. And, of course, Jason being Jason, he immediately looks away after a second, glancing at his shoes instead.

And Trini.

Trini’s normal coolness is betrayed by the fact that her lips are slightly parted in an “Oh” look of surprise that Kim has _definitely_ seen before. (In fact, she saw it right after they kissed. Or, well, right after she surprised Trini with the worst decision of her life.)

Kim tells herself that she’s totally imagining that glint of interest in Trini’s eyes.

_Kimberly’s just hot. That’s all. Stop overthinking it._

An obnoxious smirk comes onto Kimberly’s face as she lets out a low chuckle at the Rangers’ reaction, “Tommy’s not the only one who keeps in shape after retirement, you know.” She specifically looks at Kim and winks -- fucking _winks_ , “See something you like?”

“Uh, nice, um, abs,” is the only thing Kim can manage to force out.

 

* * *

 

Kimberly would be lying if she said she wasn’t a little bit nervous. She and Tommy may still have their morphers sitting underneath the bed in their hotel room, but that means as little as it had a few years ago. Any traces of their Ranger strength -- which is _nowhere_ near the kids’ superhuman strength as Kimberly’s observed -- are long gone by now, and all they’ve got left is a whole lot of experience under their belts.

But, of course, Kimberly’s too prideful to just call it quits. She doesn’t _need_ superpowers to be a Ranger.

“Alpha,” she orders, “Unpause the simulation.”

Across The Pit, the Putty’s hologram flickers, and it whirls around, looking for Tommy, who nervously backs up and steps behind Kimberly.

“Go get ‘em, tiger,” he murmurs in her ear.

Slipping a hair tie off of her wrist, she pulls her hair into a bun and cracks her knuckles, “Oh, I’ll get him, alright.”

_Here we go._

Kimberly takes off in a run, moving faster, lighter, than Tommy as she charges at the Putty. It roars, a booming sound, and braces itself, noticeably favoring its right leg. She mentally thanks Tommy for creating a small advantage and swerves toward the Putty’s left side, managing to get in a kick, dislodging a piece of its leg, and rolling away before it takes her head off.

Getting on her feet, Kimberly backs up to the middle of The Pit, luring the Putty away from the wall and out into a more open space. She needs room to work, to perform her art.

When the Putty is in place, she breaks out into a run, dropping into a slide at the last moment and aiming for the spot between its legs. However, it anticipates her move -- or maybe she’s thinking a bit too much like Tommy right now and it’s used to that -- and it plucks her off of the ground, gripping her tightly in its hand. Kimberly coughs and struggles to move, painful pressure restricting her from fully inhaling and exhaling air.

This was starting to look like a terrible idea.

 

* * *

 

When the Putty grabs Kimberly in its fist, Kim bolts up to her feet, ready to jump in and interfere if she needs to. Or, just call out to Alpha to stop the simulation.

But, Tommy is right there, beside her, holding out a hand and shaking his head. “She’s fine,” he says, his voice completely reassuring even as he watches his wife struggling.

Kim has no fucking idea how he can stay so calm.

It all happens in an instant. The Putty raises its fist above its head and hurls Kimberly into the far wall, a cloud of dirt and dust obscuring her impact, but Kim hears Kimberly’s scream and the loud _thump_ all the same.

“Jesus Christ,” she hisses, then yells out, “Alpha, stop the simulation!”

The Putty pauses in its tracks, mid-motion, one foot lifted in the air.

Tommy holds her back with a hand on her arm from rushing forward, and she wriggles out of his grasp. “Kim?!” Tommy calls out, “You okay?”

There’s a pause, and then, the dust clears and Kimberly calls out, “I’m fine!” She slides down onto the ground, leaving a crack in the wall behind her, and stumbles to her feet, shaking some dirt out of her hair. “Whew! That was, uh…”

“The hangover?” Tommy asks, chuckling.

“Yeah, that. Man, that was… wow.”

Kim nudges Tommy in the side and whispers, “What even _happened_ in this hangover?”

As she predicts, he gives her a vague answer with a wry grin, “A lot of things.”

Of course.

“Hey, throw me a water bottle, and then, uh, resume the simulation,” Kimberly says, holding her hand out. Jason steps up beside Kim, water bottle in hand, and throws it with the skill of a quarterback. Kimberly catches it with ease, flashing him a thumbs up, and chugs it in seconds flat, tossing the bottle aside.

When Kimberly is clearly ready, the hologram flickers, and the Putty resumes its angry rampage, fixing its eyes back on Kimberly.

Kim inhales sharply, holding her breath, and nervously taps her fingers at her side.

This time, though, Kimberly’s ready for the Putty. It’s more obvious now that she’s giving all of her effort, her movements radiating grace and agility as she ducks and dodges circles around the Putty, doing more backflips than Kim can keep count of. She absentmindedly wonders if that’d be her skill level if she hadn’t given up gymnastics as a kid.

Kimberly is a tease even in battle, getting close enough for the Putty to jab at her but slipping out of its reach at the last moment. Tommy might not outwardly show any signs of being worried about his wife, but all these close calls are giving Kim the anxiety of her fucking _lifetime._

“Jay, are you seeing this?” Kim asks, a frustrated edge to her voice, “Like, you’re seeing this right?”

“I need a Xanax,” Jason replies.

Yeah, she needs one, too.

The Putty slams its fist down on the ground, and Kimberly uses the opportunity to attack its left side once again, sending a pile of rocks flying off of the Putty’s leg. She doesn’t have the strength to completely impair it, but knocking off a few inches to where it awkwardly lumbers off-balance with one leg being shorter than the other greatly helps, regardless.

As the Putty’s left knee hits the ground, Kimberly scrambles around it, finding a good spot to leap onto its back and struggling to climb up.

“Holy shit, she’s insane,” Kim mutters.

Behind her, Zack pipes up, “I mean, _you’re_ insane, so really, should you be surprised?”

“I’m not crazy enough to bull-ride a ten-foot-tall Putty.”

Well, maybe she is. But, she’s not going to admit that out loud.

“She’s fine,” Tommy says, and Kim sees a small, proud smile on his face, “Kim knows what she’s doing.”

“You’re awfully sure of that.”

“Why wouldn’t I be? She’s the greatest Ranger I know.”

The look of complete honesty and confidence on Tommy’s face as he says that with the same casualness as discussing the weather has Kim tearing her eyes away from him and her throat going dry.

When Kim looks back at Kimberly, her counterpart has successfully found a suitable resting place on the top of the Putty’s back, hanging on for dear life to its neck. The Putty roars and fumbles at its back with each time it comes close to grabbing her punctuated by a loud yelp and “Stop it, you piece of shit!” from Kimberly.

“I’m sorry to say this, Dr. O, but your wife’s gonna die,” Kim deadpans.

He snorts and rolls his eyes, casually shoving his hands into his pockets, “You’re not much of an optimist, are you?”

“Realist.”

“Figures.”

“Hey!” Kimberly yells from on top of the Putty, “How come these things don’t have a _fucking_ handhold, huh?” She bangs her fist against the Putty’s head, only to let out a frustrated groan, shaking her hand in pain. The Putty whirls around in a circle, still trying to get rid of her, but Kimberly’s determined to stay on pretty well. She fumbles at a sharp piece of rock that juts out of the Putty’s neck like a stalagmite, gripping it tightly to avoid being thrown off like a rag doll.

Something dawns on Tommy’s face, and he cups his hands around his mouth, shouting out, “Hey, d’you have a bone to pick with him?”

Kim shoots him a confused as hell look, “ _What_?”

He ignores her with a wave of his hand.

Kimberly seems to get his meaning, though, and starts trying to pull at the rock in her hands as the Putty gets more and more agitated. After a few seconds of struggling, the rock comes loose, and Kimberly throws it aside.

“It didn’t _do_ anything, Tommy!” she yells back, her voice agitated.

Just as soon as she says it, though, the Putty groans loudly, and its head tumbles off of its body, bouncing once on the ground and then rolling to a stop.

“Shit,” Kimberly mutters.

The rest of the Putty’s body follows, collapsing into a pile of rocks that Kimberly falls straight through with a yelp as the hologram disappears in a flash.

Kim turns to Jason as Tommy rushes over to help his wife up, “Uh, what the fuck just happened? Did you know that was even _possible_?”

Jason shrugs helplessly, his mouth open in confusion, “I have… no idea.”

Zack breaks the two of them apart, pushing his way in between them to greet Kimberly with a wide grin as Tommy guides her back to where they’re standing, “That was _so_ cool! You should do it again.”

“I’d rather not,” Kimberly huffs out with a roll of her eyes. She’s clearly fared a lot worse than Tommy with dirt on her clothes and a few cuts and bruises that’ll probably look much worse tomorrow on the parts of her body that Kim can see.

“You still look smokin’, though,” Zack comments; Jason and Kim jab him in the side at the same time, which he takes with an annoyed whine, “Uh, _ouch,_ rude!”

However, nobody disagrees with him.

 

* * *

 

The campfire doesn’t immediately start after Kimberly and Tommy call it quits for the day. Kim jumps back to the surface with Billy and, together, they haul the couple up the ravine. Jason, Zack, and Trini stay behind to run through some drills together to pass time.

Billy, as the group had discussed last week, quickly runs back to his house to grab an electric lantern, mostly for Kim’s benefit.

Kim walks a ways off to her usual spot by the lake, sitting down and dangling her legs over the ledge. She’s not alone, though, as a twig snaps in the brush behind her and Kimberly’s voice drifts out with a soft “Crap.”

“Good going,” Kim teases with a chuckle. She scoots over to make room as Kimberly sits down beside her.

“Thanks, I try,” Kimberly bumps shoulders with her; a pink spark softly flashes between them, “You doing alright?”

Kim bites the inside of her cheek and shrugs, “No better or worse than usual, I guess. You?”

Kimberly chuckles, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, “Uh, well, only thing I can complain about is that Putty.”

A laugh bursts from Kim’s lip, and she punches Kimberly in the shoulder -- apparently too hard as Kimberly exclaims “hey!” and rubs her arm. “You’ll feel it a _lot_ more tomorrow,” Kim says, snickering, “And probably worse, too, since, you know, you’re not a superhero.”

“Yeah, whatever, keep rubbing it in,” Kimberly rolls her eyes, “So, what’s this campfire all about?”

Kim frowns as she thinks, and she fidgets, yanking up some of the grass next to her thigh to preoccupy herself, “It was just this thing we started doing once we became Rangers… We didn’t have a lot of time ‘til Rita was gonna attack, and we couldn’t morph… Zordon ran us hard. It was pretty crappy. There was a lot of tension, lots of… frustration, I guess. We didn’t know or care about each other too much, but, uh, Billy did. He morphed first when Jason and Zack got into a fight one night, and when he couldn’t repeat it, Zordon kicked us out. So, we camped out here for the night. Got to know each other a bit.”

Kimberly lets out a low whistle, “Damn, that sounds… a little harsh.”

“He’s--” she sighs and shrugs, muttering, “He _was_ bitter, I guess. His team died protecting the Zeo Crystal from Rita, so, I don’t know, I guess I can understand being frustrated that a bunch of fuck-up kids inherited the duty.”

“You’re not a bunch of fuck-up kids anymore, though. I’d argue you never were in the first place.”

Kim instinctively snaps, “You don’t _know_ us.” She doesn’t have any reason to, but it just bothers her. They might both be (or might both have been) Rangers, yet it doesn’t seem right for Kimberly to claim anything on their behalf. They’ve known each other for, like, three days.

Kimberly takes a deep breath and looks at her; Kim looks out over the water, instead, “I don’t… but I want to, and I know that you wouldn’t have been chosen if you weren’t meant to save the world. The Morphing Grid is never wrong.”

“You have a lot of faith in this whole system,” Kim comments, a small frown on her face.

“‘Course I do. It chose me and Tommy and dozens of other Rangers.”

Sure, but Kim figures there had to have been _one_ bad choice in there somewhere.

“Has a Ranger ever died?” she blurts out, mentally cursing at herself. Around Kimberly, her already-low impulse control is practically nonexistent, and she just says whatever’s on her mind. “In the line of duty?” Kim adds, quietly, remembering, with the sinking of her heart, Kimberly’s Trini.

There’s a long silence in which Kim isn’t sure if Kimberly heard her, so she glances over, catching the other woman wiping tears from her eyes.

“Uh, yeah,” Kimberly says, her voice cracking. She clears her throat and continues, “A few years after I retired, a Ranger… sacrificed herself. Her team was far away in space, but they sent a message out to those of us on Earth. You know, we tried to keep in touch with each other like one big Power Ranger family, so when, uh, we found out, it was…” Shaking her head, Kimberly lets out a shaky breath, “It was hard. The year before had been shitty, too, and it was… it was really close. The bad guys almost won, so having that hang over our heads and then having a death in the family so soon after…”

She straightens up, though, and gives Kim a somber smile, “She got better, though. The Ranger, I mean. Her team gave their powers back after they’d completed their mission, and she was… revived, I guess. But, it gave the rest of us a lot to think about, you know? I was only 20 or so when that happened, still living in France with my mom and stepdad and working on my gymnastics career. Gave me a big wake-up call on mortality.”

“We’re not invincible,” Kim says, reaching over to slip her hand into Kimberly’s. Numbness slips into her fingers, but she ignores it and rubs circles on the back of Kimberly’s hand with her thumb.

“No, we’re not,” Kimberly agrees, biting down on her lower lip for a brief moment. “I knew that already, but it just didn’t _really_ settle in until those couple of years. Like, all that time I spent saving the world and helping people -- it kept me humble, but at the same time, I got a little cocky. I didn’t think we could possibly lose as bad as we almost did. Everything just happened all at once -- what we thought would be the end of the world, losing another Ranger, and then, just a couple years later,” she takes a deep breath, and Kim squeezes her hand for support, “Trini died, and all of it kinda fell apart for me.”

Kim can’t say that she relates. In a way, she does but also doesn’t. This spot, this lake, this cliff -- it gives her power when she dives into the water. Out here, among the trees and the mountains, she can just brush off everything that’s bothering her and be as bold as she wants to be.

But, being a Ranger had started with a hard lesson in humility for her. For all of them. “Billy died,” Kim murmurs, her heart clenching as she closes her eyes to stop the sudden wave of emotion from overwhelming her. It’s partially that and partially her not wanting to look Kimberly in the eyes as she speaks.

“After our little campfire thing, Rita went to Trini’s house and… attacked her.” Kimberly’s hand grips hers a little tighter, and, even without her eyes open, she can sense the tension in the air as Kimberly stiffens. “Told her that she’d attack Angel Grove at dawn. So, we all met up, and we decided to take her on ourselves.”

Kimberly’s voice carries the confusion that Kim is sure is all over her face, “Why didn’t you go to Zordon?”

“Because--” she stops herself when irritation boils up inside of her and shoves it down in favor of a calmer, if still slightly unsteady, tone, “Because… he’d been relying on us morphing to come back to life. Alpha 5 said he stuck Zordon’s… essence into the ship? I guess? Or soul or whatever you wanna call it. And, uh, when we finally connected and morphed as a team, supposedly, that energy would open up a gateway that Zordon could step through. He could have a body again. Be a Ranger and fight Rita again.”

“He _used_ you? He failed to mention that when we talked to him yesterday when you guys were handling the Putties.” Kim forces her eyes to stay shut as she hears the palpable disappointment in Kimberly’s words.

Kim sighs, “He didn’t… trust us. As I said before, I guess I don’t blame him.”

“So you guys tried to take her on alone.”

“Yeah,” Kim scoffs, “She wiped the floor with us like it was nothing. Like _we_ were nothing. She kicked our asses and then tied us up. Interrogated us for the location of the Zeo Crystal. None of us knew except...” She trails off and finally opens her eyes, letting go of Kimberly’s hand and going back to ripping up blades of grass from the ground. The next part is too hard to say out loud, and she feels like if she does, she’ll just start crying and never stop.

“Billy,” Kimberly finishes for her.

Her throat closes up. It’s getting dark, but Kim can still see the color of the grass in her hand as clear as day.

It reminds her of Rita’s armor.

How close Rita had been, her voice taunting, sending chills down Kim’s spine.

_Five little Rangers tied up like fish._

She’d felt a fear she never knew was even possible that night.

_Where’s my crystal?_

“Kim.” Fingers snap in front of her face, and she slowly looks at Kimberly.

“I can’t,” she whispers. Her hands feel numb. Odd like they don’t belong to her body. She glances at her left hand, smeared with specks of dirt from the ground, and closes and opens her fist several times, not entirely registering sensation as her fingers brush against her palm.

Suddenly, Kimberly’s hands are on her shoulders. “Look at me,” Kimberly says, firmly, “It’s okay. You don’t have to continue.”

Her mind feels heavy and hazy, so Kim shakes her head to clear her thoughts and blinks.

Behind her eyelids, she sees Zack, inches away from her, Rita’s golden staff pressed against his neck, the veins in his face blackening as his life drains from his body.

“No, no,” she mutters, shaking her head harder, “I can’t.”

“You can’t what?” Kimberly asks, her tone dipping into concern.

Kim blinks again.

Billy’s lifeless body. Her hands scrambling to find a pulse -- to find _anything_ \-- on his neck and chest.

How heavy he’d been to carry, even with their superhuman strength, like the guilt on her shoulders.

“I can’t- we weren’t _ready_ ,” she forces out, her lips quivering. Kim blinks again, and tears trail down her cheeks. “We weren’t ready,” she repeats, angrier, angry at herself, angry at Rita, “But we still went for it like fucking idiots and Billy paid the price and he’s _better_ now, but it’s not… What’s gonna happen next time, huh? Billy came back, but it was a one-time thing. Who’s- who’s gonna fix it the next time we inevitably fuck up?”

Kimberly brushes away Kim’s tears with her thumb and shakes her head, sadly. “You can’t be ready for something like that,” she confesses, “You just can’t. You can train all you want, run drills ‘til you’re about to pass out from exhaustion, fight all the monsters and Putties you possibly can, but… at the end of the day, there’s always going to be something more that catches you off-guard.”

“Then what are we supposed to do? What am _I_ supposed to do?”

“Adapt,” she says, simply, as if it’s the answer to all of the questions Kim could ever possibly have, “The next threat that comes for the Zeo Crystal will be worse than Rita. There’s always someone worse out there looking to hurt people, looking to take over the world. Always a bigger fish. You already said it -- we’re not invincible, and sometimes… a Ranger is still going to die. Or a civilian is gonna get caught in the middle. You can’t let that stop you. Mourn. Grieve. Do what you have to do and then keep going.”

“Sounds easier than it is,” Kim mutters.

“Yeah, ‘course it does, but the key is believing in yourself and your capability to move forward.”

Well, that just sounds straight-up naive. And ridiculous. “Even when it feels like it’s gonna be the end of the world?”

“Especially then,” Kimberly says, nodding. She lets go of Kim’s shoulders, putting her hands in her lap. “What I said earlier -- our darkest hour? It was around the summer of ‘98. I was on vacation with my mom in Italy, and every news channel started blowing up. Endless hordes of aliens attacking cities all over the world, capturing civilians, decimating entire towns. I wasn’t- I wasn’t a Ranger anymore at that point, but I kept hoping. Kept believing that the Power Rangers would save us and, even if they failed, _I_ would keep going. Because I had to… for my mom, my stepdad, my family and friends.”

Kim swallows, dryly, her heart slightly sinking. It seems surreal to think that Kimberly’s confidence is supposed to be -- or could one day be -- her own.

Yeah, right. As if.

The description brings a faint feeling of familiarity to mind. “I think I heard about that… Or, at least, a little bit from my dad.”

“Yeah, uh, it’s gotten buried over time. Not something you’re gonna find in the history textbooks as easily. The rest of us tried to pull as many strings as we could to make sure it didn’t blow up everywhere since the Ranger team that saved the day, well, they revealed their identities to the world, so. We tried to hide it as best as we could with the turn of the century.”

“You guys _really_ are like a family, huh,” Kim comments, “Looking out for each other like that and everything.”

Kimberly nods, smiling warmly with a hint of what looks like fond nostalgia in her eyes, “We are… and you’re part of it now, too.”

 

* * *

 

When Jason, Zack, and Trini resurface from The Pit and Billy comes back with his lantern, Tommy goes to find Kim and Kimberly, retracing his wife’s footsteps from where he’d seen her disappear earlier.

He finds them both a little ways off from the campfire site on top of a cliff that overlooks a beautiful lake. “Kim,” he calls out, and both of them turn to look at him, “Uh, the kids are ready.”

They exchange a few more words in whispered tones, and Tommy respectfully turns his back, giving them their privacy. There’s shuffling sounds of movement, and then Kim is walking right past him, brushing some dirt off of her jeans.

Kimberly slips her arm into his and nudges him with her shoulder, and they start walking back to the campfire together, “Hey, handsome.”

“Hey yourself,” he says, grinning easily, “How’s Kim doing?”

“She’s scared,” Kimberly replies, biting her lower lip in worry, “They don’t know what’s coming.”

“ _We_ don’t know what’s coming,” Tommy counters.

“We have an idea, at least, even if it’s a shot in the dark,” Kimberly tugs on his arm and stops him in his tracks, “Tommy, should we tell them?” She’s rubbing the dark green fabric of his tank top between her thumb and forefinger, her gaze zoned out and lost in thought, but he knows exactly what she means.

“We’ll tell them if he shows up,” he decides, “Zordon said the Rangers kicked Rita out into space, so… she’s gone for now.”

“Maybe she found a palace on the moon to settle into,” Kimberly says.

There’s also that.

“We’ll deal with it when it comes to that -- _if_ it comes to that, okay?” Kimberly murmurs her agreement, leaning into his touch. Tommy kisses the top of her head and nudges her along, “C’mon, let’s go have some quality bonding time.”

 

* * *

 

“So, what’s the deal with the lamp?” Tommy asks, taking a sip from a bottle of cream soda that Billy had brought along two six-packs of for everyone upon his return.

They’re all sitting in a circle, Kimberly and Tommy between Kim and Billy, with a battery-powered hexagonal lantern in the middle of a pile of firewood, where a roaring fire would usually be.

“Um,” Kim swallows and fidgets with her hands in her lap, “It’s stupid, but… when we were fighting Goldar, he- he bent my pterodactyl’s wings and everything was on fire and it was so hot--” She stops and breathes shakily, flinching when Kimberly puts a hand on her shoulder.

“It’s not stupid,” Kimberly says, her eyes sad, “I know what it’s like… I couldn’t turn on the stove for years after I got, uh, sacrificed and thrown into that lava pit. I always had to have someone else do it for me.”

The campfire is silent for minutes, and Kim kind of -- _only_ kind of -- wishes that the crackling of the flames could fill the air instead of the space inside her head.

 

* * *

 

“What’s the _craziest_ thing you’ve ever seen as Power Rangers?” Zack -- of course -- asks, his eyes curious and wild in a way that makes Kimberly feel a little bit younger again just by looking at them.

She and Tommy share a glance then answer simultaneously, “That’s classified.”

“Aw, come _on_ , just a little something? What’s the point of being cool veteran Rangers when you can’t tell us anything?”

Kimberly snorts and rolls her eyes, deflecting the question easily, “Who said _we_ were cool? Tommy’s a big nerd.”

“I can confirm that I’m a big nerd,” Tommy nods with a straight face.

She makes a mental note, at some future point, to tell the Rangers about the time they met the Justice League and watch Zack flip the hell out.

Just not now.

 

* * *

 

“Hey, so, what color Ranger were you? I don’t think you ever told us that. I mean, Kimberly never told us, either, but obviously, she was pink. Right?” Billy questions with a blissful ignorance of what his words to do the two adults sitting around the campfire.

Tommy freezes, a beat too slow, and Kimberly jumps in for him after her heart stops pounding in her ears.

Zordon had told them the entire story while the kids had been out fighting the revitalized Putties. How Rita had been his sixth Ranger until she decided she wanted more.

Kimberly doesn’t dare say green.

“He’s been a lot of colors,” she answers, forcing her voice to stay steady, “But… white was his first. And, yeah, I was pink.”

Technically, white had been his first real color, one that was a complete void of Rita’s influence. Something pure and good, untouchable by Zedd’s evil hand.

Technically, it isn’t a lie, but her stomach still flips.

 

* * *

 

“I jumped over a house.”

“I broke my phone into pieces. Told my parents that I dropped it in the parking lot at school and then a car ran over it.”

“I ripped my closet door off of its hinges.”

“I smashed the bathroom sink. My dad wasn’t too happy.”

Everyone looks at Trini, expectantly.

“What?” she rolls her eyes and shakes her head, “I didn’t break _anything_. You guys are amateurs.”

 

* * *

 

“Okay, if we’re not allowed to ask you about Ranger stuff, then what _can_ we ask you?” Zack throws his hands up, raising his eyebrows at Kimberly and Tommy.

“Uh, I don’t know, maybe you can ask us about our lives _outside_ of being Power Rangers? I’m not one-dimensional, thanks,” Kimberly shakes her head, “Be creative.”

“Alright, well,” Billy starts off, “How did you guys meet?”

Both Kimberly and Tommy start smiling fondly at the same time, and Kimberly whispers something in Tommy’s ear that makes him actually _giggle_.

“Wow,” Jason says, dryly, “I’m gonna get a cavity.”

Tommy wraps his arm around Kimberly’s shoulders, still grinning, “We, uh, met when my family and I moved to Angel Grove. I was the new kid, and she thought I was cute.”

“I can confirm that I thought he was cute… even though his hair was terrible,” Kimberly says, smirking when Tommy pouts at her, “He saved me from a couple of kids being jerks. Not that I couldn’t’ve handled them myself, but.”

Zack furrows his brow in interest, “What’d his hair look like?”

“You know _what_?” Kimberly pulls out her phone, “I think I actually have a picture- hey!”

Tommy snatches Kimberly’s phone out of her hands and holds higher than she can reach. “Don’t,” he warns, wagging a finger at her.

“I’ll bite your finger off, buster.”

“I’ll take my chances.”

Billy, on Tommy’s other side, with his long ass wingspan, reaches over and easily plucks Kimberly’s phone out of Tommy’s hand, catching him off-guard.

 

* * *

 

“Wait, so, if you guys haven’t been together this entire time, then what the hell have you been doing?”

Kimberly snorts, “Gee, Kim, I don’t know, maybe we’ve been living our own lives? Like normal people?”

There’s a beat.

“I, uh, created an army of robots when I was in college.”

“What the fuck?” Trini squints at Tommy, and everyone else looks equally flabbergasted.

“Fully functional robots?” Billy asks, “Did they talk?”

“You don’t think that maybe you shouldn’t start off with that?” Kimberly murmurs, nudging Tommy in the side.

He pauses, “Well… that was years after we were Rangers, so it’s safe, right? Relatively. And, no, they didn’t talk. They tried to kill me.”

“Uh-huh.”

So, Tommy tells them about three kids, detention, and the fourth kid who had a dinosaur hybrid for a father.

Jason scoffs, glancing at Billy and Kim, “That sounds a little bit familiar. I mean, not the dinosaur for a dad, part, but.”

“I think you’re married to a very mad scientist,” Kim mutters.

“Nah, he’s just a dork,” Kimberly shakes her head, “Who makes questionable decisions sometimes, but he’s generally harmless.”

“I second that,” Tommy gives the group a thumbs up and a smile, “I’m generally harmless, and it was a one-time thing. I’ve been banned from doing any DNA splicing since, so.”

 

* * *

 

“So, what’d you do during college, princess?” Trini asks, motioning at Kimberly with her cream soda bottle.

Kimberly notices how Kim, sitting on her own right, bristles, but she doesn’t comment on it.

“Um, nothing as fancy as Tommy, obviously,” Kimberly chuckles, “My gymnastics career ended when I got injured, so I took a few years off. Lived with a friend in England and ended up going to college there. Uh, she was my first girlfriend. That’s about it.”

“Ooh,” Zack leans forward, “Give us the deets. What was her name?”

Kimberly smiles, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, a faint blush on her cheeks, “Katherine, but she went by Kat.”

Beside her, Tommy fakes a look of realization, “Hey, _I_ dated a girl named Kat.”

“I know, babe; we dated the same girl. Stop playing dumb.” Kimberly smirks, “She said I was the better kisser.”

“Yeah, I bet she did,” Tommy grumbles, “‘Cause you bought her McDonald’s all the time.”

 

* * *

 

“Alright, alright, so,” Zack points at Tommy, “You’re a former Power Ranger with a whole bunch of colors and a doctorate in paleontology, but you’ve got no actual official research except for under-the-table dinosaur-resurrection or whatever.”

“And, you,” Trini nods at Kimberly, continuing Zack’s thought, “You were only one color, _but_ you’ve got four gold medals--”

“And some silver and bronze… as well as some other regional awards,” Kimberly adds.

“Yeah, and those. Plus you’ve written a book,” Trini finishes.

Jason glances between Kimberly and Tommy, “Yeah, no, she _definitely_ settled for him.”

“Like how Rachel settled for Ross,” Kim teases, chuckling.

“Uh, excuse _me_ ?” Tommy gapes at Kim, fully offended, “I am _not_ Ross!” He nudges Kimberly on the arm, “Babe, tell them I’m not Ross.”

Kimberly rolls her eyes, “He’s not Ross. He’s, like, all the good parts of Chandler and Joey. Especially Joey.”

“There you go,” Tommy nods, satisfied, “Besides, Kim isn’t Rachel. I would’ve made her get back on the plane, anyway.”

“First off,” Kimberly scoffs, “I wouldn’t have gotten off just for a person. To save the world? Sure. For a relationship? No, I deserve better, and so did Rachel.”

 

* * *

 

“Okay, so, lemme get this straight… you proposed to her… with a parachute?” Jason shakes his head, “Way to make us feel inferior forever, dude.”

“Don’t call me dude, _dude_.”

 

* * *

 

“What’s the best date you’ve ever been on?” Kim asks.

“With each other or…” Kimberly giggles as Tommy rolls his eyes in mock offense.

“Yeah, sure, with each other.”

“Hm,” Kimberly thinks on it for a moment then looks at Tommy, “You mind if I tell them about that time in New York? When we went to Red Lobster and, you know…” She trails off and waits for his answer.

Tommy shrugs, “Yeah, I don’t mind.”

The atmosphere shifts, and Kimberly puts her hand over Tommy’s, suggesting softly, “You can go take a walk, if you want.”

He thinks about it for a second then kisses her on the temple, “Nah, I’m good here. With you.”

Kimberly nods, still holding onto his hand, and turns back to the kids, “Alright, so… we started dating two years ago, and I was doing some press for my book at that time. I ended up hitting the States during summertime, so Tommy flew out to see me in New York.”

She pauses, biting her lower lip, and only continues after Tommy gives her an affirming nod, “We had dinner together, and… he, uh, came out to me as pan.”

“Oh,” Jason says, his eyebrows raising in surprise, “I wasn’t… expecting that.”

“Yeah,” Tommy sighs, his shoulders loosening, “I, um, I originally planned on telling my parents a few years before that, but they, uh, they died. A couple months before Kim and I started dating, my brother, David, went, too, so I was going through a rough time. I just… I don’t know, I felt like I’d kept it to myself for too long.”

“You know I’m always proud of you for telling me,” Kimberly murmurs, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

 

* * *

 

 

“What about your worst date?” Zack snickers.

“I’ll pass,” Tommy says, too quickly.

“He was late on our first three dates. I almost dumped him, and we weren’t even technically dating yet,” Kimberly counters, also too quickly.

 

* * *

 

“Our wedding was pretty much a, uh, Ranger family thing. Everyone got together and helped out pretty much everywhere, and it was chill, you know? We could talk about being superheroes without worrying about someone finding out.” Kimberly chuckles, “And make all the jokes about Tommy’s hair that we wanted to.”

“Shush.”

Kimberly grins at Tommy widely and reaches up, ruffling his hair; he smacks her hand away and frowns, “You know I love you.”

“Mhm, sure,” Tommy rolls his eyes, “Our first dance, in case you were wondering, was to How Long Will I Love you. The Ellie Goulding version.”

“That’s… disgustingly cute,” Kim groans, “What was the theme? Or, wait, hold on, lemme guess… pink and white, obviously.”

“Yeah, totally,” Kimberly answers, a little too fast, but nobody else notices the way she leans a little closer to Tommy.

 

* * *

 

“It’s getting late,” Tommy comments, shortly after the sun had set, checking his watch, “You guys should get on home. There’s supposed to be a storm coming in tonight.”

Five simultaneous groans echo around the campfire.

“I’m pretty sure I gave myself a leg cramp,” Kim grumbles.

“Uh, should you be driving?” Jason asks, a little worriedly, “‘Cause, I mean, I can drive.”

She gets up and pushes past him, rolling her eyes and twirling her keys in her hand, “Nah, unlike you, I don’t have a bum leg.”

“Hey!” he frowns and chases after her as she runs down the trail, cackling, “My leg isn’t bum… for the most part!”

Kimberly and Tommy exchange goodbyes with the rest of the kids, disappearing down the trail in the same direction Jason and Kim had gone.

Trini makes a decision right then and turns to Zack and Billy, “Hey, I’m gonna hang up here for a lil’ while. Get some studying done for that history test on Friday… which you have, too, _Zack_.”

Zack fakes a look of innocence, “What’re you talking about? I’ve been _studying_.”

“Uh-huh… if you knock on my window Thursday night, I’m gonna tell my parents you’re some weird dude trying to break in.”

“Well, then, who’s gonna help me inevitably cram?” he asks with a wide grin.

“Not me, hoe,” she calls over her shoulder, throwing a peace sign at the boys as she walks away.

 

* * *

 

Kim waits by her car, Jason next to her breathing in huffs, after they’d chased each other down to the mine’s entrance. Billy and Zack appear down the trail, running a race of their own, and Zack triumphantly emerges victorious, unnecessarily sliding on his knees in front of Kim’s car.

“I let you win,” Billy says, shaking his head.

“Yeah, right, _sure_ , Billy-boy,” Zack scoffs, getting to his feet and brushing the dirt off of his pants.

Jason rolls his eyes, “Uh, Zack, you do know Billy hates lying, right?”

Kim hates how she notices it right off the bat, but she mentions it, anyway, because at least it’s actually relevant instead of her mind just obsessing for no reason, “Hey, where’s Trini?”

Billy jabs his thumb in the direction of the quarry, “Oh, she said she was gonna chill up there and do some studying.”

She almost wants to take out her phone and text Trini, telling her to be safe, but she feels like that’d just be awkward. So, she doesn’t.

 

* * *

 

Almost an hour after everyone had left the campfire, Trini finds herself back at the quarry, at her usual spot. The day had been absolute crap, lacking severely in everything she normally enjoyed about actually going to school, most of which, unfortunately, involved Kim. Having breakfast with Kim. Seeing Kim in biology. Having lunch with Kim -- and the others, of course.

Frustratedly grumbling to herself, Trini yanks her headphones off, the drastic change between loud rock music and the dead silence of the night leaving her ears ringing.

In the distance, the sky rumbles.

Right. The storm Tommy had warned them about.

“Fuck…” Trini gathers up her stuff, slamming her history textbook shut and shoving it inside her backpack. She’s been trying to study to no avail all day long, especially since she hadn’t gained any progress last night, but the day itself is determined to make her fail her test. Well, the day and the fact that she keeps thinking about Kim and how Kim kept avoiding her eyes at the campfire.

And the fact that she couldn’t manage a smile the entire time but Kim had been having the time of her life while joking around with Kimberly.

The sheer audacity, right?

It tastes like guilt in her mouth, leaving behind a bitter aftertaste.

 

* * *

 

Kim walks out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her body and tied in a perfect knot just underneath her sternum. She goes over to her closet and shuffles around, checking how many outfits she has left for the rest of the week. Zack lounges on her bed, playing with her stuffed puppy again.

“You know,” Kim says with her back to him, “You’re free to use my shower. Instead of just, you know, using it to help me out.” Realizing that she doesn’t have anything for Saturday or Sunday, she sighs and drags her feet to her dresser, pulling out a pair of pajamas and going back into the bathroom to put them on.

“I know,” Zack raises his voice so Kim can hear him through the door; her parents aren’t home yet and probably won’t be for awhile, “I’m just used to taking a shower at home. Gives me time to check on my mom and stuff.”

After a moment, Kim walks back out, turning the bathroom light off. Zack raises an eyebrow at her, “Are those monkeys and bananas?”

“Shut up,” she mutters, shoving him over and flopping down on the bed, “What’re you gonna do now?”

“Probably go do some stuff at home. Take a shower, check on my mom, check on the food in the fridge,” he responds, “I can come back here after that. If you want me to, of course.”

Kim nods and grabs her laptop from her nightstand, opening it up and pulling up Netflix. “Yeah, I’d want you to come back,” she says, offhandedly, then fixes him with a stern look, “Especially since we still haven’t talked about what you meant by ‘more than one person.’”

Zack winces, “Ooh, you’re not gonna let that go, are you?”

“Nope.”

 

* * *

 

Trini’s too tired to run home, so she walks, which ends up being a gigantic mistake. She swears that the storm speeds itself up just to hover over her (which isn’t even close to true, but with her luck, probably), just as she’s leaving the vicinity of the quarry.

Checking the weather hadn’t been on her mind this morning, so she’s without an umbrella as the rain starts pouring down. Trini quickly strips off her jacket and wraps it around her bag, holding it close to her chest and hunching over to protect her books from (hopefully) most of the potential water damage. It’s a shit idea, especially because now her back is exposed to the freezing rain, but if she can prevent herself -- or her parents -- from having to shell out ninety unnecessary dollars on replacing her history textbook for the school, then it’s _completely_ worth getting a cold over.

The sky flashes with lightning, followed by a thunderous boom, causing Trini to jump.

She has to get out of this soon before she’s stuck with a cold. Or, worse, pneumonia.

Can she even get pneumonia from a storm?

Trini decides she needs to pay more attention in biology but shoves that thought aside as the sky lights up again and another crack of thunder has her trembling.

Shelter. She needs to find shelter.

Well, that’s tough because almost everything in Angel Grove is closed after ten.

Trini ducks under the patio cover of a nearby store and fishes her phone out of her pocket, uselessly trying to wipe it dry with her shirt. It takes a couple of tries to unlock her phone, with the screen not responding to her touch because of how disgustingly soaked she is, but finally, it responds and she pulls up her contacts.

She pauses for a moment, running through the closest people she knows in her head. Kim’s house is on the other side of the quarry and way too far away to reach, especially because she’d have to cut through the mountains and that’s _definitely_ dangerous.

And because she’s not going to fucking play with the idea of showing up at Kim’s house after last night.

Jason, Billy, and Zack are all even further from her than her house is…

She keeps scrolling down her contacts and stops on Tommy’s name.

Okay, yeah.

What hotel had Tommy said they were staying at again?

 

* * *

 

The storm starts shortly after Zack leaves out of her window, and Kim ends up ripping a corner of her blanket in worry. She curses to herself but is ultimately thankful that it wasn’t anything else like her laptop or Mr. Woofer. Or her phone for the billionth time.

(It’d be the fourth one this month, but same difference.)

Faintly, she can hear the alarm being turned off from downstairs and the front door opening and closing.

Kim’s about to put her earbuds back in and go back to Grey’s Anatomy when she hears footsteps coming up the stairs, accompanied by her mother’s voice, calling, “Kimmy?”

Then, there’s two knocks on her door. Great.

She sets her laptop aside and gets up, unlocking her door and opening it a crack; her mother peers in at her. “Yes, Mama?” she sighs.

Her mom lets out a fast string of Gujarati that Kim has to close her eyes to focus on translating in her head, _ <Who were those two people you were having dinner with last night? That woman who just dragged you off--> _

Kim holds up a hand and snaps, “Mama, I didn’t--” She frowns, pauses, and continues through gritted teeth, but in a slightly more respectful tone this time, _ <She didn’t ‘drag’ me off. I wanted to leave. She and her husband are…> _ Drawing a blank for the word she’s looking for, she shakes her head and goes back to English, “They do some work with the relief camps in the park, and they took us out for dinner to talk about when we could get some hours in. You know? Since I have to… do that now. That’s it, okay? I’m… tired and I wanna go to bed.”

There’s a brief pause, and then her mom nods, glancing around at what she can see of Kim’s room, “Okay, then, goodnight. You should clean your room, Kimmy.”

She sighs again, “I know, I know. I’ve been busy. Night, Mama. I love you.”

“I love you, too, sweetie,” her mom says as she turns to go back downstairs.

Closing the door, Kim locks it and turns around, jumping when she sees Zack next to her window, holding a dripping wet umbrella.

“Jesus Christ!” she hisses, stepping over bundles of discarded laundry to get to him, “When the- how long have you just been _standing_ there?”

He closes his umbrella and gently sets it as well as his backpack on the floor. “Just a few seconds,” he whispers back, “You were talking to your mom, so I decided not to say anything.”

Kim squints at him, “You opened and closed my window without me noticing?”

Zack grins, “What can I say? I’m a ninja.”

 

* * *

 

They pile on her bed and try to get some studying done. Try being the operative word as Kim watches Netflix with one earbud in while Zack takes out his history notes then lays down and goes on his phone instead.

Kim would scold him, but honestly, she’d do the same thing.

“You know,” she remarks, “You’re gonna fail that test if you don’t study beforehand.”

“Oh, don’t worry ‘bout me,” he murmurs, smiling at a puppy video on his Facebook feed, “I’ll study. From like Thursday night to Friday morning.”

Typical.

Zack’s phone beeps with a text notification, and he snorts. Kim glances at him, “What?”

He looks back at her, frowns, then shakes his head, “Nothing.”

She knows that frown. “It’s Trini, isn’t it?”

He sits up and looks at her closet door instead of at her, “Uh, yeah, it’s Trini. She’s telling me that she’s… supposedly crashing at my place for the night? Weird.”

Kim’s brow furrows in confusion, “What? Why? Wait- nevermind, I don’t wanna know why.”

“Well, I do,” Zack mutters, typing on his phone. He gets a response pretty quickly, and Kim feels a small spike of jealousy. Unjustified jealousy, even, especially since she’s the one with a boy sitting in her bed at the moment.

Add to that, a boy who she _likes._

Zack’s phone beeps again. “She deflected,” he sighs, reading the screen and shrugging, “Guess I’ll never find out.”

Kim closes her laptop, sets it back on her nightstand, and leans her head back against the headboard, staring at the ceiling and mustering up the courage inside of her. “Gimme your hand, Zack,” she says, holding out her own. She doesn’t look at him, but she can feel his the warmth of his palm as he slips his hand into hers without question.

She takes a deep breath.

“Last night… I went to Trini’s house and I-I kissed her.”

“Holy shit,” Zack mutters, softly.

Kim chuckles, “Yeah… I don’t know what I was thinking, but. Well, I mean, I wasn’t thinking. I was just _doing_ , I guess.” She finally stops looking at the ceiling and meets his eyes, “I told her that, um, I liked everyone on the team, too, and, uh, she didn’t… take that too well.”

His eyes squint in confusion, “How?”

“Um,” she clears her throat, forcing tears to not come, even though the memory hurts, “She brought up the theory that, uh, I might have been, I don’t know, deeply affected by Billy, you know, dying and that because of that… my feelings might not be… real.”

“Oh.”

Kim squeezes his hand, and Zack squeezes back, firmer in response, reassurance.

“I’m… sure she didn’t mean it like, uh, like that, Kim,” he says, slowly, shaking his head.

“I _know_ she didn’t,” she laments, pulling her hand back and rubbing the bridge of her nose, “But I just. Fuck, I don’t know. I just wanna stay pissed. At this point, I don’t know if I’m pissed at myself for being an idiot or pissed at her for saying that or- or pissed at everything.”

“Pissed at Rita for being an evil space bitch?” Zack suggests with a small smile.

That gets her to chuckle, if only for a moment. “Yeah, that, too.”

“You know what I’m gonna say.”

“I do,” she grumbles, “I’ll… I’ll talk to her tomorrow. Or something. I’d honestly be tempted to go over to her house, but that doesn’t sound like a great idea right now.”

Zack snorts, “Yeah, you’d probably get hit by lightning. Besides, going over to her place is what got you into this mess, so I’d suggest going for a different route.”

“Technically, _you_ got me into this mess,” Kim counters, pointing a finger at him, “And, who knows, maybe I’ll go outside, get hit by lightning, and turn into Barry Allen.”

“Uh, I’m no expert on superpowers, but I’m pretty sure you can’t be a Power Ranger _and_ the Flash. That’s, like, superpower overload or something. Lightning hits you, and you just die.”

Kim tries not to think about how much she wants to test out the budding theory in her head that they can survive a lightning strike. After all, they kinda technically survived Rita’s space magic, and that’s worse getting hit by lightning, right?

“We’re getting sidetracked,” she abruptly says, snapping herself out of her thoughts, “Or, well, _you’re_ getting sidetracked.”

“You’re distracting me,” Zack replies, flatly, but he grins when she glares at him.

Kim gets up from her bed and stands, stretching and cracking her back with a satisfying pop. “You _wish_ I was distracting you,” she teases over her shoulder as she turns to leave, “I’m gonna go get some water. You want some?”

It takes Zack a few seconds to answer, and when he does, Kim’s already halfway out her bedroom door, so he has to whisper as loudly as he can, “Uh, shit- yes, please!”

 

* * *

 

After navigating Google Maps with increasing levels of difficulty because the signal kept cutting out and then her phone had fucking died, Trini grumpily stomps into the Comfort Inn on Greenfield Avenue, sheepishly muttering a “sorry” when the receptionist gives her a look for shaking her jacket, clothes, and bag off in the foyer.

She quickly -- a little hesitantly -- asks for which room Tommy and Kimberly are in and shuffles off to the elevators, her shoes squeaking annoyingly on the tiled floor.

When she gets to room 309, Trini takes a deep breath, wondering briefly if this was really worth it or if she should’ve chanced dragging herself home to her mom nagging at her, and knocks firmly on the door.

Inside, she hears a thump accompanied by a “Shit!” that sounds like Kimberly’s and then, faintly, Tommy’s “Are you okay?”

She doesn’t get to find out if Kimberly’s okay or not because the door opens and there she is, narrowing her eyes in confusion at Trini.

“Oh, my God, you’re soaked…”

“Yeah, it’s _kinda_ raining.”

Through the window across the room, Trini sees lightning flash, and she stiffens at yet another boom of thunder.

“Only kinda,” Kimberly murmurs, smiling wryly; she pries Trini’s jacket from her hands and motions with her free hand, “Come on in.”

Trini drags her feet inside the hotel room, closing the door behind her and setting her backpack down. She pulls off her shoes and groans as she takes off her socks as well, stuffing them inside of her sneakers, “Disgusting…”

She glances around the hotel room. It’s pretty sizable -- an open floor plan with a full kitchen, a living room, what looks to be a king-sized bed, and a bathroom.

Tommy’s laying on the bed, reading (complete with _very_ teacher-y glasses on), and he gives her a brief wave.

“You’re wearing glasses,” she states.

“He’s blind as a bat,” Kimberly teases, coming out of the bathroom, and looks at Trini, “I hung your jacket in the bathroom to dry it off, but there’s a laundry room downstairs, if you need it, considering.”

Considering her sad state, yeah.

Kimberly hands her two towels, “For you. And your backpack.”

Trini mutters her thanks and drapes one towel on her shoulder blades and kneels, opening her backpack to assess the damage. She only had her history textbook and folder in her bag, and both check out relatively okay with the only thing being that the folder itself is a little damp, but none of her notes seem to have smeared. Good enough. She quickly wipes down her backpack, satisfied that her biggest crisis of the moment has been averted.

“Hey,” Kimberly says, “You didn’t go home after everyone left, did you? I mean, you wouldn’t be here otherwise.” She leans against the kitchen counter, watching Trini with curious eyes.

Trini frowns and takes the towel around her neck, using it to dry her hair as an excuse to not look at Kimberly. “Uh, no,” she mutters, “I didn’t.”

“You wanna talk about it?”

“Why’re you _assuming_ there’s anything to talk about? Maybe I just wanted to have some alone time.” Trini doesn’t mean to snap, but she just does. Something about Kimberly just irks her, makes her more predetermined to get irritated easier.

Not to mention she doesn’t want to think about Kim right now, and looking at Kimberly leads her to do exactly that.

They _really_ fucking look alike, and it’s starting to creep her out.

Kimberly doesn’t show any reaction to Trini’s abrasiveness and simply shrugs, “Okay. But I’m here if you need me. And Tommy is, too.”

Trini glances at Tommy, who flashes her a thumbs up over his book.

Alright.

"Did I startle you when I knocked on the door?" Trini just blurts out, remembering Kimberly's shout.

"Mmmmmm."

"She banged her foot on the desk."

"Shut up, _Dr._ Oliver."

"You love me."

Trini's starting to understand why Kim always finds these two gross.

Kimberly opens one of the kitchen cabinets and pulls out a packet of hot chocolate, raising her eyebrows at Trini, “Weather channel says the storm isn’t gonna blow over ‘til, like, two tonight, so… how ‘bout I make you some hot chocolate, get you a change of clothes, you throw those into the laundry room downstairs, and crash on the couch for tonight?”

“Uh… hold on, lemme check.” Trini pulls out her phone and sends a text to 1) both of her parents saying that she’s staying at Zack’s to help him take care of his mother for the night and 2) Zack saying that she’s “supposedly” crashing at his place for the night and helping him take care of his mom.

Zack texts back almost immediately.

_[ZT 10:29 PM] uh im not even at home lmaoooo_

_[ZT 10:30 PM] where r u @ then tf_

_[T 10:30 PM] not home obvsly_

_[ZT 10:30 PM] touche_

“Yeah,” Trini says, looking at Kimberly and nodding, “I’m good to crash here tonight.”

“Alright, then.” Kimberly grabs the coffee pot from the counter, fills it up with water, and turns it on. She crosses the room to the dresser that’s under the TV on the wall and in front of the bed, shifting through some clothes. “How d’you feel about pink?”

The look Kimberly gives Trini has her feeling like she’s being seen right through.

Trini shivers and clears her throat, “Uh, I don’t- it’s whatever.”

Kimberly nods and pulls out a white t-shirt and pink shorts, tossing them on the couch, “Pajamas. You’re totally welcome to the shower and everything else, too.”

“Alright, thanks,” Trini takes her towels and heads for the bathroom, stopping when she gets in the doorway and looking at Tommy, “You guys aren’t gonna start fucking while I’m asleep, are you? Gotta be clear.”

Kimberly snorts, plopping herself down on the bed next to Tommy and dissolving into giggles; Tommy himself chuckles and puts his book down.

“We didn’t _actually_ have sex last night,” he says with an amused smile, “Kim has a thing about hotel rooms.”

“Yeah, I did a lot of traveling for press, and people… _really_ like fooling around in hotel rooms. And some of those walls are pretty thin, so. I never wanna be _that_ asshole,” Kimberly laughs, “So, we were just messing with you guys. I mean, Zack’s reaction was pretty great.”

Trini rolls her eyes but ends up laughing at the thought, probably her first one of the entire day.

It definitely feels like a relief.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who else would straight-up die for #ripped 90s Kim to do a training montage? Me. I would.
> 
> I'm pretty sure I vaguely messed up continuity canon with some of the references in this chapter, but it's whatever. I'll fix it somehow. MMPR the Movie (1995), RPM, and Dino Charge/Dino Supercharge are all not considered Legacy canon, just fyi. Or, at least, existing in the same universe.


	9. Aftershock, Part I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the midst of abnormalcy, the Rangers' lives are further interrupted by two escaped fugitives who have gotten their hands on powers they shouldn't have, and, from the shadows, a potential threat emerges.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this is gonna be a long-ish note. Yeah, it's basically been five months since my last update for this fic which is Yikes™ but it's been a rough couple of months. I was in the disaster area of Hurricane Harvey, so school started out really crappy this semester and I've got family crap to deal with, too. My family and I are fine and safe, hurricane-wise, so that's that. For those of y'all who've stuck around since the last update, thanks for being patient and all. I love you all and really appreciate your support.
> 
> Anyway, onward.
> 
> I took the movie's sequel comic, Aftershock, and tweaked it a little bit. A lotta bit.
> 
> Don't read if you haven't read Aftershock yet unless you wanna be spoiled, and because I love you guys, here's a link to read Aftershock for free (unfortunately, it's Uber Straight, lowkey characterizes Jason and Zack badly, and doesn't involve 90s Tomberly): http://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Saban-s-Power-Rangers-Aftershock

Kimberly is wide awake hours before her alarm goes off. She glances at her phone on the nightstand and sighs softly at the 4:56 AM that flashes back at her. There’s no going back to sleep now that she’s got her eyes open.

She tries to get out of bed as slowly as she can, slipping out of the covers with some difficulty. It feels like the harder she tries to not disturb Tommy, the more the mattress creaks under her shifting weight. Of course it would.

Tommy rolls over, and Kimberly freezes.

“Wha’ time issit…?” he sleepily slurs.

“Go back to sleep, babe,” she automatically responds, turning and pressing a kiss to his cheek.

That wakes him up even more, unfortunately, and he peers at her in the darkness of their hotel room, “Where’re you going?”

“Clear my head,” Kimberly says, shrugging, “I think I might go for a run.”

Tommy sits up and fumbles for his phone. “It’s five in the morning, Kim,” he mumbles, the screen illuminating his features.

“I’ll be careful. Promise.”

He makes a soft noise of acceptance and lays back down, holding his hand out. Kimberly touches her fingertips to his and smiles, even though they can’t quite see each other in the dark, “Love you. I’ll be back soon.”

“Love you, too.”

She goes to the dresser and feels around for her workout clothes, changing as quietly as she can. At one point, she hits her elbow against the wall and curses quietly to herself; Tommy chuckles, still faintly awake.

“Shut up.”

“You can turn on the lights, you know,” he whispers back.

Yeah, but Kimberly’s always been somewhat stubborn.

Grabbing her phone and earbuds from the nightstand (and thankfully avoiding any more incidents with bumping into furniture), Kimberly navigates the rest of the room, using the soft backlight from her screen as a guide.

She passes by the couch where Trini is sprawled out from last night underneath extra sheets they had called up from room service. The girl is snoring softly, and Kimberly smiles to herself, amused. Trini puts up such a snarky front with her, but that’ll go away, eventually. Hopefully.

Kimberly slips out the door, making sure to not let it close too loudly, and sticks her earbuds in, heading for the elevator.

 

* * *

 

Her run takes her back to the quarry and the trails near it that weave through the mountainside. Kimberly jogs until she reaches the cliff looking out over the lake Kim had showed her yesterday. She’s definitely awake, now, after going from the hotel to here, and not to mention the little bit of training (and a lot of pain) that’d gone on yesterday, but also, tired and feeling a bit sore.  
  
The sun is starting to peek up over the horizon, just slightly illuminating the sky.  
  
Kimberly sits down, dangling her legs over the cliff’s edge. She’s not in the right clothes to just dive in, take a swim, and bask in the beauty of the lake, but she makes a mental note to come back at a later time.  
  
Taking a deep breath, Kimberly pulls out her earbuds, closes her eyes, tilts her head back, and quiets her mind, listening to the ambient sounds of nature.  
  
Birds chirping, the slight breeze rustling the leaves on the trees.

The air itself is still pretty humid from the rain stopping only a few hours ago. It’s… a little bit gross, but at this point, she already feels gross from running, so what’s a little bit more general ickiness?

Kimberly opens her eyes, and the first thing she sees is the faint image of a rainbow stretching out over the sky. Her breath catches, the thought running through her head immediately being that she wants to share something that’s so beautiful in the quiet of the early morning.

Of course, when she stops to think about it, her automatic instinct is to share it with Trini.

It’s where her mind just brings her to, without even thinking, despite the fact that Trini’s been dead for years. In her heart, though, their fire of their friendship is still alive and burning, if only a little dimmer than it had been decades ago.

The wound is fresher when she looks at the other Trini. Younger, more guarded, feistier, a little bit rougher around the edges, but the feeling that she gets in her stomach, it’s the same one. An indescribable _thing_ that she just knows means _Trini._

A part of how they’re all somehow connected. A mystery that has yet to be solved.

Kimberly pulls out her phone and snaps a few shots of the sky, the rainbow, and the sun slowly rising behind it. She shifts through the pictures, picking out the best one and sends it off to two places.

The first, her Instagram. Kimberly opens up the app, waits for it to lazily load, and posts it with a caption.

 ** _kimberlyannharts_** _Woke up to a pretty sunrise and a beautiful rainbow this morning. I thought of you, and sometimes, it’s hard when I think too much, but you would’ve given me a deep life lesson to ease my grief. “The same way a rainbow appears after a storm, you too will see the beauty of everything after you power through tough times.” Or something like that. I miss you, always._

Her thumb hovers over an emoji on her keyboard, her heart clenching. She taps it once and lets out a heavy sigh at the sight of the yellow heart after her “always.”

The second, Kimberly pulls up her contacts and clicks on Trini Not-Kwan (it had seemed pretty funny to her when she had entered the name in her phone, but Tommy had just looked at her like she was a little bit too sleep-deprived). She attaches the picture to a text message and sends it off.

_[KO 5:37 AM] Went out for a run. I saw this and thought you’d like it._

 

* * *

 

Trini's phone alarm is what jolts her awake, sending her flailing as she tumbles off of the couch. For a brief moment, Trini hastily thinks she’s been kidnapped because this doesn’t feel like her bedroom floor, and the last time she checked, her bed was a… bed, not a couch.

It takes her a moment of sleepy disorientation to remember reality, and she grumbles, pulling herself back up on the couch and turning off her alarm.

The room is still dark, but a tiny bit of sunlight is starting to show up through the window blinds. Trini checks her phone. It’s 6:20… ugh. She still has two more alarms before her _actual_ wake-up time, but considering that she’s not home right now, it’d probably be best to stay awake and walk home instead. Sighing, she turns the rest of her alarms off. Her phone shows a new message from Kimberly, but she decides to check it later when her phone brightness wouldn’t wake up the rest of the world.

Standing up from the couch, Trini stretches, untangling herself from the sheets and trying to quietly fold them without disturbing Tommy.

“You’re not leavin’ yet, are you?” His voice rings out in the silence of the room, still slightly groggy.

Who’s apparently already awake.

She lets a moment pass before answering, “Yeah, I was gonna, actually. I have to get home, get ready for school, all that stuff.”

Tommy shifts in bed and sits up, clicking on the lamp on his nightstand. He squints at her, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “Kim’s gonna bring back breakfast,” he says, “You’re our _guest._ Stay; have something to eat. We can drive you to school later.”

“I don’t wanna impose,” she mutters, shaking her head, and Tommy waves his hand at her in dismissal.

“You won’t. We’re a lonely, old, married couple, anyway. Having people over is like Christmas,” he jokes.

Trini thinks about it for a second.

She could either run home, get ready, possibly have to deal with her parents trying to stop her for a chat on the way out the door, and go through another round of Kim ignoring her in the cafeteria…

Or she can have breakfast with a dinosaur fossil teacher and his way-cooler wife who looks too much like the girl she likes for Trini’s comfort.

“Depends,” she sighs, finally, “What’s for breakfast?”

 

* * *

 

A pressure underneath her back -- digging into it, actually -- is what wakes Kim up. She grumbles, loudly, without opening her eyes, and the pressure stills.

Beside her, Zack whispers, “Kim? You awake?”

“I am, _now_ ,” she mutters.

“Good. ‘Cause I can’t feel my arm.”

Ah, so that’s what she’s laying on. Kim snorts and finally opens her eyes, rolling over so that she and Zack are face-to-face.

He frowns at her, “That just made it _worse_.”

Rolling her eyes and letting out a quiet giggle, Kim shifts, propping herself up with an elbow so that Zack can free himself, then slumps back onto her pillow. “What time is it?” she sighs.

Zack leans off of the bed, scrambling to find his phone where he’d dropped it on the floor last night then had been too lazy to retrieve it. Kim has half a mind to stretch her leg out and kick him off for funsies, but then, her parents would probably hear and then she’d have to awkwardly explain why a boy is in her bed.

He whispers a triumphant “Aha!” and then drags the rest of his body back onto her bed and squints at his phone’s glare. “It’s, like, almost 6:30,” he reports.

“Ugh.” Huffing out a sigh, Kim literally rolls out of bed, only saving herself from falling flat on the floor at the last moment. “We didn’t get to talk last night,” she murmurs, straightening out her pajamas and running a hair through her hair. She probably looks like a mess right now, but it’s not like Zack hasn’t seen everything she could possibly have to offer as a person in the span of a few days.

“Maybe that’s ‘cause you fell asleep watching Netflix and I had to save your laptop from being dropped on the floor,” Zack remarks, snickering. Kim just rolls her eyes at him. He glances at his phone again then sticks it in his pocket and continues, shrugging, “We could talk for a little bit right now, if you want, but then I’ve gotta jet. Go make breakfast for my mom and stuff.”

“Okay, so…” Kim sighs, frowns, and vaguely waves a hand around her room, “I know we kinda… took this out of order, I guess, but, um, I-I like you and I’m a mess right now, my life’s a mess and…” It feels like repetition, saying this again for the second time this entire week, but her waking hours have been repetition, too, waiting for those _others_ Rita had talked about to come, to kill someone else close to her again.

“And I don’t know what this is, but I don’t… I _can’t_ lose you,” she finishes, closing her eyes and letting out a sigh of, not relief, but apprehension. Anticipation.

The bed creaks as Zack gets up, and Kim opens her eyes, holding her breath. He’s closer to the window than she is, but if he makes a choice to leave, she wouldn’t really stop him. Technically, she’d deserve it, anyway, since she just left Trini hanging the other night.

But, Zack walks around her bed, easily stepping around her various piles of laundry. (At least he’s getting better at that.)

He stops in front of her and holds out his hands, palms up, a soft smile on his face. Raising her eyebrows in question, Kim places both of her hands in his and waits.

“You’re not gonna lose me,” he starts then shushes her when Kim opens her mouth to protest; she closes it with a small grumble in the back of her throat. “I’m right here, and, _unfortunately_ ,” he says with a cheeky grin, “You’re stuck with me. I’m like a bad penny.”

“I’d donate you,” Kim murmurs, “for the orphans.”

Zack pouts, “Then… fine, I’m a shiny, new penny.”

She rolls her eyes, “Zack, you’re _not_ a penny. You’re just… you. Which says a lot already.”

“That implies you _want_ me.” Kim’s scowl only makes his grin get bigger.

“The point. Please.”

Zack rubs his thumbs in small circles on the back of her hands; her eyes follow the small movements until he speaks again.

“Truth. I like you, too, Kim,” he says, gently.

Her gaze snaps up to meet his, and he gives her an encouraging smile.

That’s always the thing about Zack. He’s loud, obnoxious, and a little bit daredevilish. But he’s sensitive and soft when he wants to be. Kinda like her, in a way. Maybe that’s why she likes what she likes about him.

“It’s okay… if you don’t know what this is,” Zack continues, shrugging, “It’s okay if you don’t wanna know or whatever. I’m fine with that. But, I want you to know that I’m here, and this…” He squeezes her hands briefly, “This can be whatever you want it to be, you know? We can stay friends, date, or… do other things…”

Zack trails off, leaving her to fill in the blanks, and Kim hastily shakes her head, “No, no, no, definitely _not_ ‘other things’ - wherever you were going with that.”

He snorts and teases, cockily, “Oh, so you’re all talk, then? Figures.” His features soften, “But, seriously, whatever you’re comfortable with.”

Kim’s heart flutters, and she nods, “Thank you.” There’s a lot more she wants to say, but it doesn’t feel right to do so at the moment. She already made one mistake with Trini; she’s not gonna break her own record in the span of a few days. “Go take care of your mom,” she urges, softly, letting go of his hands, “I’ll see you at school? We can have, uh, breakfast together or something.”

“Or something, yeah,” Zack responds, smiling. With a nod, he backs up and opens the window as quietly as he can, grabbing his umbrella from the floor, hopping out, and rolling to save his landing.

 

* * *

 

After Zack leaves, Kim rushes to get ready and make herself look like a decent human being (even if she doesn’t want to look like one), throwing on one of the last outfits she has for the week.

The thought crosses her mind, briefly, that she could always steal clothes from someone else.

Or just do her laundry.

Kim grabs her phone from her nightstand and shoots off a text to Zack.

_[KH 6:44 AM] hey does “the zack-man” happen to have any extra clothes to loan?_

_[KH 6:44 AM] asking for a friend._

_[KH 6:44 AM] who doesn’t have enough clothes left for the weekend._

_[ZT 6:44 AM] u shld do ur laundry lmao_

_[KH 6:45 AM] hard pass._

_[ZT 6:45 AM] do it on sat_

_[KH 6:45 AM] i have a paper due monday._

_[ZT 6:45 AM] then wash ur clothes mon nite_

_[ZT 6:46 AM] ill help u????? If ur so LZ_

_[KH 6:46 AM] wtf is LZ??? landing zone??? ?????_

_[ZT 6:46 AM] LaZy……. get w da prgrm_

_[ZT 6:46 AM] n yea ur “friend” can borrow sum clothes lmfao_

_[ZT 6:47 AM] dnt u have other friends besides me_

_[ZT 6:47 AM] starts w a tee and u alrdy borrowed 1 shirt frm her on mon lol_

_[KH 6:47 AM] 1) not even going there 2) i don’t even fit into her fuckin clothes “lol” have u seen how short she is??? that flannel of hers was like almost a crop top on me lmfao i had to wear a hoodie otherwise feig would’ve sent me home or something._

_[KH 6:47 AM] besides billy’s a tree and jason would go through 20Q’s if i asked him like a total dad._

_[ZT 6:48 AM] t is still ur friend u kno_

_[KH 6:48 AM] i Know._

_[KH 6:48 AM] i told u… i’ll talk to her today or something._

_[ZT 6:48 AM] Just Do It kim dont let ur dreams be dreams_

_[ZT 6:48 AM] ystrdy u said tmrw so Just!!! Do!!! It!!!_

_[KH 6:49 AM] oh my goddddd i fuck_

Kim drops her phone with a jump, accidentally hitting the send button as there’s a knock on her door. She catches her breath when her mom’s voice drifts through.

“Kimmy? Are you awake?”

Sighing, she goes over to the door and opens it a crack, stiffening when the scent of her mom’s homemade pancakes wafts through. “Yeah--” she scrunches her nose and peers at her mom, “Did you make breakfast?” She’d known her mom was actually downstairs during this time for once but hadn’t been paying attention to if both of her parents had left for work yet.

“I did,” her mom’s eyes are soft -- too soft and too full of concern and warmth -- so Kim quickly looks away, her stomach turning uneasily, “I was going to call you downstairs to have some.”

She hasn’t seen her mom at this hour of the morning for some while, so the conversation itself just feels _wrong._ Kim shakes her head, “Uh, sure, I’ll have some, but I’ve been eating at school for the past few days and I’m actually, um, meeting a friend before class, so, uh…” She trails off, awkwardly, her discomfort with the casual chit-chat rising in her chest. Her mom calling her for breakfast is _too_ normal, too much like a time before she fucked up and caused this entire mess.

Without asking, Kim knows that her parents probably agreed to put on some kind of act for her sake, especially since witnessing her outburst at Rudy’s.

“I can bag it up for you,” her mom says, shrugging, and Kim’s irritation unfairly spikes at the casualness, “And you can just toss the container when you’re done. It’s no problem.”

Kim freezes, opening her mouth but staying silent, and nods once she realizes that words aren’t coming out.

“I love you.” Her mother smiles for a fraction of a second then turns to go back downstairs.

Her throat starts working again, only when she hears her mom reach the last step. “Yeah,” Kim whispers to the empty air.

 

* * *

 

_“It’s a bright, sunny morning here in Angel Grove, and you’re listening to 96.5 KHXN The Groove--”_

Melanie reaches over and switches off the radio, huffing when the driver looks at her, frowning.

“What,” he chuckles, adjusting the baseball cap on his head, “You don’t like the _Groove_?” There’s unnecessary emphasis on ‘Groove,’ and he says it in a way that reminds her too much of a Scooby Doo cartoon for her liking.

“Too upbeat,” she mutters, rolling her eyes, “We’re not in a family comedy, Caplan.”

His name is not Caplan, but it will be for the foreseeable future.

“Well, we gotta jive with the people, don’t we? Mingle and all that.” He taps his fingers on the steering wheel and flashes her a grin without actually looking at her. _He’s_ too upbeat, reminds her of a man she’d said goodbye to a long time ago.

That’s the problem with plainclothes, she thinks, they have too much fun being out in the open.

“ _You_ have to,” she corrects, crossing her arms and averting her gaze out the window to the sky that’s slowly lighting up with the sun’s glare, her mouth turned into a scowl.

“You have to, too, Mel,” Caplan says with a half-shrug, tilting his head, “Shame about that Krispy Kreme. I was looking forward to some quality donuts.”

She hates nicknames.

“That’s _Director_ Mel to you,” Melanie mutters, “And you’ll survive, promise. HQ already has shitty coffee, so shitty donuts isn’t a stretch.”

Her phone rings in her pocket, and she shifts in her seat, pulling it out with ease. The number is unknown, but all of their numbers are.

Untraceable, undiscoverable.

Nevertheless, she knows the essence of who it is.

She holds the phone to her ear and purses her lips, whistling a seven-note tone and uttering its corresponding passphrase, “What truly lies in the hearts of men?”

The response comes immediately, the voice in her ear distorted by their phone’s voice changer, parroting the tone back at her, _“That which can only be seen in the darkness.”_

“And who am I speaking to?”

 _“York,”_ comes the gravelly reply with the added effect of feedback in her ear as York breathes.

Melanie’s never met York in person, but then again, they’re not meant to cross paths. Her voice sounds just as distorted on York’s side as theirs does on hers. “Report,” she orders, leaning her head back on her headrest.

_“You’ve got some more chaos to pick and choose from when you get here, Director. Those Putties popped up again on Tuesday.”_

She already knew that, but it doesn’t hurt that York remembers what they’re supposed to be updating her with. “Did they leave any evidence?”

_“Of Goldar? No, nothing. Of a bunch of rocks? Yeah, all over Fountainview. I had to find another way home from work because construction’s got almost the entire block cut off.”_

Melanie’s frown gets deeper. Once again, plainclothes and their love for mingling. For sounding like they belong. They do their job _too_ well.

“Noted. Unit update?”

_“You know that’s classified, Director.”_

Beside her, Caplan scoffs under his breath, amused.

“I’m just checking that you’re sticking to your orders, York.”

_“Always, Director.”_

Slightly moving her phone away from her mouth, Melanie glances at Caplan. “ETA?”

“We’ve got about an hour, ma’am,” he answers without missing a beat.

She puts her phone back next to her lips, “If you need anything, we’ve got an hour ‘til arrival. After that, once I’m in town, don’t contact me, understood? You have your assignment, and I have mine.”

 _“Of course, Director.”_ There’s a pause, and then, she hears the hint of a smirk in York’s voice, even with the distortion, _“I’ll just make sure I don’t need any help, then.”_

The line clicks, and Melanie slips her phone back into her pocket, grumbling.

“You hate plainclothes,” Caplan comments.

“I hate that you all take to it too well,” she replies, shaking her head, “Might do you all some good to have something to shake it up every now and then. Be reminded that you’re on assignment, not playing Life.”

Caplan lets out a laugh, low but hearty, coming from the bottom of his stomach. When he speaks, he’s gleeful enough that it finally puts a smile on her face, “Oh, _we’ll_ shake it up around here, alright.”

That, she can agree with.

 

* * *

 

Kim’s only just settled into her seat in the cafeteria, placing her container of pancakes down on the table in front of her, when Zack comes bounding up, bowling into her with a hug that would’ve knocked her off of her seat, had she not heard his sneakers squeaking moments before.

“How’s Pinkie doing?” he asks, plopping down in the seat next to her, “Your last text just ended at ‘i fuck’ and I wasn’t sure how to respond to that.” At her glare, Zack grins, widely.

Man, he’d be a terrible person to talk to during a hangover.

Or, just, normally.

“I meant to say ‘i fucking hate you,’” she mutters, rolling her eyes, “But my mom distracted me, and I dropped my phone.”

“At least you didn’t break it. Again.”

“Shut up.”

Zack reaches over and grabs the plastic utensil set that her mom had sent to her school with straight out of her hands and rips it open, ignoring her narrowed eyes, “You made pancakes?”

“My mom did-- Do you have _manners_?” Kim yanks the container away from him as he makes a move to pry it open.

He pretends to think about his answer for a second then shrugs, carelessly, “We’re superheroes, and we nearly got burned alive, like, two weeks ago, so. I think our friendship’s kinda beyond manners now, right?”

“Yeah, like how you’re just allowed to jump through my window, sleep in my bed, and raid my entire fridge.”

“ _And_ copy your homework.”

“Absolutely _not_.”

Zack stares at her, waiting expectantly, and she sighs, setting the container back down and watching as he opens it. “You got any syrup?”

Kim shakes her head, “We were out. I think there’s some in the line, though.”

“Mmmmm. Hold these,” he hands her the fork and knife and then gets up from his seat, throwing his bag down on the ground, “BRB.”

She’s barely had a moment to unlock her phone and check Instagram when Zack’s back (she almost breathes out a giggle at that, but doing so would mean questions and then she’d never hear the end of the puns) with a packet of syrup.

“You mind?” he asks, waving the packet at her.

“Nah, go wild. Use as much as you want.” Kim goes back to her phone, scrolling through her Instagram feed. She pauses on a post Kimberly had made about a little over an hour ago and likes it, her heart growing heavy with the caption underneath.

“Kim.” Looking up at her name being called, she scowls at the sight of Zack holding the fork with a diced up piece of pancake on it out at her. She tries to grab it, but he pulls away with a teasing smirk.

“I can feed myself, thanks.”

“What kind of gentleman would I be, then?”

“Debatable on if you’re one at all.”

The fork gets nearer to her face, and she sighs, biting the piece off and chewing grumpily.

Zack shoves a piece of pancake into his mouth as well, munching and swallowing before nudging her in the side. “Things are looking up,” he says, “I saw a whole bunch of relief trucks heading into town on my way over. Like six or seven. Probably more trailing behind them.”

“Oh, yeah?” Kim raises an eyebrow, “It’s about time Red Cross showed up. They’ve been awfully silent.”

“Probably busier elsewhere,” he scoffs, “But, nah, they weren’t Red Cross. Something like… Samaritan Relief? That’s what was on the side of the 18-wheelers.”

Kim furrows her brow, frowning, “Never heard of them.”

“Same. Must be some local nonprofit from San Angeles.”

Zack feeds her another piece of pancake, and Kim hums, tapping on her phone and exiting the Instagram app once she hits her posts from last night, switching to Facebook instead. “Maybe. I wonder why they didn’t come sooner.”

“Knowing those NoCal snobs, probably ‘cause they were coming up with ways to buff it up in the news. I mean, they already dethroned us with the whole 4th largest Ferris Wheel shit, so, like, this is like the icing on the cake for them.”

She shrugs, finding nothing of interest on her Facebook feed either, and tosses her phone on the table, “I guess it doesn’t matter. Help is help, and I’d kill for people to get back on their feet, you know? It feels like the stress is just making everyone hand out more homework.”

“You got me there,” Zack mutters, nodding in agreement, “Perez says there’s a quiz on Monday, now, but we _just_ had a test on Tuesday, like, dude, what gives?”

“You’re Chinese, Zack,” Kim teases, dodging when he tries to kick her in the shin, “You should _love_ his quizzes.”

“Oh, _alright_ , Kimmy. Why don’t you go join decathlon, then? They’d probably take you since Shristi’s gonna be valedictorian. You’re in high demand.”

“Shut _up…_ I was already in decathlon freshman year, so whatever.”

 

* * *

 

All eyes seem to be on their trucks, numerous and branded with “Samaritan Relief,” pulling up at Angel Grove Central Park like they own the place, which, theoretically speaking, it would be nice if they did. People should learn to recognize their saviors.

Melanie gets out of the passenger side of the SUV she came in, not even giving Caplan a glance as he slips into the crowds of refugees lining up for one problem or another. She already has too many things on her plate, so luckily, having a ride won’t be one of them. Caplan’s keys will mysteriously appear in somebody else’s hands -- somebody who’s working the same front as her instead of his assignment -- and that’ll be that.

If there’s anything she can rely on besides herself, it’s how much of a well-oiled machine her team is without so much as a word of direction for her.

It’s nice not having to babysit for a change.

She seeks out the chief deputy quickly, finding him standing with a fellow officer, gaping in awe at the trucks lined up with volunteers -- _her_ team -- already snapping into action, rushing to help the people of Angel Grove.

“Chief Colton,” she calls outs, catching the man’s attention; he turns to her, eyes scrutinizing, and she loosens her shoulders, forcing a smile, “I’m Melanie Sheer, field administrator for Samaritan Relief. Sorry it took so long for us to get here. Had to pull resources from four states and off of the Mississippi flood.” Her words are fast, but not _too_ fast, and her voice is confident, unwavering, steadfast sure, and, most importantly, friendly. “How many displaced are you dealing with?”

“Uh,” the police chief pauses for a moment, unsure of what to make of her, then gathers his thoughts, “Little under a thousand. Hotels and schools are full up, and FEMA’s tapped out.”

“It’s our own little version of Katrina,” the officer next to Colton chimes in, wincing, “You know, just with giant monsters.”

Oh, they’ve _never_ met a Katrina like her.

“Well,” Melanie gestures to the Samaritan Relief vehicles lined up on the curb, a broad smile on her lips, “Well, I’ve got medical tents, MREs, and purified water, ready to go. All you gotta do is point the way.”

Colton shifts on his feet then nods, and it’s over. “We appreciate the charity. Have your people set up where they like,” he pats his fellow officer on the shoulder, “Garrett here will make sure you have full access. If anyone has a problem, they can talk to me.”

That is definitely what she likes to hear.

She fakes a smile, warm and grateful, “Thank you, Chief. My people are at their best in the worst situations.” Melanie offers her hand forward, and Colton grasps it, shaking firmly, “I promise you won’t regret it.”

The chief and Garrett walk off to handle other matters, and Melanie watches as they go, waiting until they’re out of earshot to reach underneath her hair and press on her earpiece.

“Give the green light to deploy,” she hisses in a hushed tone, hunching her shoulders together, her eyes flickering around, watching, in case Colton decides to double back, “I want topography scans twenty clicks in every direction for now. Focus on the city, and stay away from that Krispy Kreme.”

Static briefly cackles in her comm, _“What about tactical?”_

“Full alert,” she responds, easily, “Plainclothes spotters have already been integrated into the population and are gathering recon immediately.” Melanie pauses and casts a glance around at the crowds of men, women, and children, all mingled together in a chaotic buzz. Her eyes land on a man with cropped black hair; a flimsy volunteer vest covers his light green t-shirt.

He must sense her presence because he turns and looks straight at her through the throng of people between them, his eyes squinting against the bright sunlight, but Melanie keeps herself steady, gaze unwavering.

“We’ve got seventy-two hours before the hard questions start getting asked,” she mutters into her comm then disconnects the line without so much as a farewell.

She keeps her eyes locked with the man in the green shirt until he moves further into the crowd and disappears from view.

 

* * *

 

“Is this going to be a thing? You just _handing_ out food?”

Trini stabs her plastic fork into a piece of her pancake and chews while regarding Kimberly and Tommy across from their kitchen counter. The hotel room’s kitchen counter. Whatever.

“What can I say?” Kimberly shrugs, taking a sip from her coffee cup, “I’m generous.”

Tommy nods in mute agreement beside her, reading a newspaper that Kimberly had picked up for him on her way back. The front page has a blurry picture of the Rangers from Tuesday, fighting Putties on Fountainview. A bolded headline screams: _“DANGER IN ANGEL GROVE IS NOT OVER.”_

She can vaguely see her yellow silhouette -- it looks better as a moving blur.

“Sure,” Trini says, brow furrowing, “But, you’ve paid for dinner for all five of us, bought lunch for Kim, and driven us around all in the span of a couple of days. _And_ you drove all the way here, paused your life back in-- what was it?”

“Reefside,” Tommy answers without glancing up from his newspaper.

“Right. Paused your life in Reefside to do-- what, exactly?”

Kimberly and Tommy look at her at the same time. It’s a little unnerving how in sync they are, and she wonders where they get that from because _she_ has married parents and her mom and dad can’t even let each other talk in turn.

“To help you guys,” Kimberly says, simply, as if that’s all there is to it.

Trini doesn’t buy it.

“Uh-huh,” she drawls out, shoving another piece of pancake in her mouth and frowning at the couple while munching.

“We’re here to steal the Declaration of Independence,” Tommy deadpans, tossing his newspaper down and rolling his eyes.

Trini mirrors his eyeroll with an exasperated one of her own. “Why do you assume we’d need your help, though? What _kind_ of help do you even have to offer?”

“Experience,” Kimberly states at the same time that Tommy says, “Supervision.”

They give each other a look.

“It’s good to have more than a robot and a face in the wall watching your back,” Kimberly amends; Tommy shrugs, “You’ve been doing this for, what, a week?”

They’re stalling, she thinks, for the real reason.

“What’s coming?” she asks, abruptly, causing Kimberly to visibly tense, her shoulders stiffening. It’s a blatant tell if Trini’s ever seen one.

She’s looking at Kimberly, but Tommy answers, “Nothing good.”

“And I’m guessing you can’t tell me. Or _won’t_.”

Kimberly shifts from foot to foot; she’s desperately uncomfortable but trying to desperately hide it. And failing.

“If you knew you were gonna die tomorrow, that’d affect your whole worldview, right?”

What, _that’s_ her excuse?

“Yeah, sure,” Trini shrugs, frowning. As if she has enough to worry about already.

“Well… we just wanna make sure you guys are focused on the present instead of, you know, stressing about the future,” Tommy offers, glancing at Kimberly, who silently agrees with a nod.

It keeps coming back to the “we can’t tell you the possible future” thing, but that’s not it. That can’t be all there is otherwise they wouldn’t be so determined to be evasive.

“Alright, that’s fair,” she lies and concedes through a slightly clenched jaw.

For now, she decides to drop it.

But only because she’d rather finish her breakfast and go to school on time.

After finishing breakfast, Trini changes back into her washed clothes from last night and piles herself and her bag into the backseat of Tommy’s Jeep. The drive to her house is filled with chit-chat between Kimberly and Tommy once Trini makes it clear that she doesn’t want to talk by putting her headphones on and sinking into her seat. She doesn’t have music playing, though, since it’s just a ploy, but it’s not as if the couple would say anything she doesn’t want to hear right in front of her.

Instead, Kimberly and Tommy throw around a bunch of names that she doesn’t recognize and mention things that she can only faintly grasp at: “the reunion,” which Trini can only assume is some big Ranger get-together, and how it’ll be a lot different this year, presumably because of, well, her and the other four kids. Something about people named Lauren and Mia getting engaged, so next summer’s going to be busy. Kira and Tori thinking about adoption, to which Kimberly looks at Tommy with a raised eyebrow and Tommy noncommittally hums under his breath.

“We already have _nine_ kids,” he says, flippantly, glancing at Trini.

Ah, so there’s four others.

Kimberly parks a few houses down from Trini’s own, and Trini unbuckles her seatbelt, ready to leave, when Kimberly’s hand gently grabs her wrist. Trini shakes off the hold with a narrowing of her eyes.

“Hey, uh, I know there’s no time to sit down right now,” Kimberly starts, “But, whenever you’re free, there’s… something I wanna talk to you about.”

Immediately, she knows. “Something being the fact that your Trini is dead,” she finishes for Kimberly, who quickly looks away.

“Yeah.”

Tommy is characteristically silent in the passenger seat, scrolling through his Facebook feed on his phone, but Trini can see that there’s tension in his shoulders.

This matters to them, and even though Trini doesn’t exactly believe _why_ they’re here, they’re still here, nevertheless, and this matters to her, too.

“I’ll let you know when I’m free,” she says and tries to leave the Jeep again, but Tommy stops her. Again. Verbally, though, not physically this time.

“Do you want a ride to school? We can wait here.”

Trini glances between their pseudo-parental, expectant gazes. It would definitely be easier to just say yes… but she wants the peace and quiet that comes with clearing her head up in the quarry.

Trini shakes her head, “I’ll be fine. There’s a shortcut I like to take through the mine before school.”

Judging by the brief flash of concern on Kimberly’s face, that was probably the wrong thing to mention around her motherly self.

Tommy, however, isn’t fazed and shrugs, “Alright, cool.” At Kimberly obviously clearing her throat at him, he adds as an afterthought, “Text us when you get to school, okay?”

“Will do, Dr. O.”

With that, she grabs her backpack and scrambles out of the car as fast as she can, not caring if it seems rude to do so and not wanting to give Kimberly or Tommy another second to call her back. Tommy’s Jeep doesn’t leave its spot next to the curb until she’s inside her house, and Trini can feel Kimberly’s eyes on her back the entire way, up until she climbs and disappears into her bedroom window.

 

* * *

 

Kim notices Trini the moment the other girl walks into the cafeteria, wearing her signature dark yellow beanie, and quickly ducks her head, pretending to be deeply engrossed in her phone, “ _Shit_ , Trini just got here.”

Zack glances over to the cafeteria doors and purses his lips, “You _know_ I’m gonna call her over here, right? We’re bros.”

“Don’t you _dare--_ ”

“Hey, crazy girl!”

“ _Zack_!” Kim hisses in displeasure and kicks him under the table, grumbling when he doesn’t even flinch, mostly due to the fact that Trini’s in sight of them and approaching fast.

Trini sits down, pocketing her phone after sending off a text with a satisfying _bing!_ , and greets both of them with a short nod, “Hey.” Kim’s heart beats louder in her chest as their eyes meet for the briefest of moments before Kim forces herself to go back to her phone.

“You gonna get something to eat?” Zack asks, “There’s still some time left before first bell.”

“Nah, I’m full,” Trini shakes her head, “I had breakfast with Kimberly and Tommy this morning.”

That _definitely_ catches Kim’s interest, and she looks up at Trini. “Oh, did they take you out to eat?”

“No, uh, the storm rained me out last night on my way home,” Trini explains, keeping Kim’s gaze in such a steady manner that she wishes _she_ had, “I crashed with them for the night.”

“They didn’t _do_ it with you around, did they--” Trini reaches over and pinches Zack in the arm, smirking at his “ _ow_!”

“That’s from Kimberly,” she says, cheekily.

Trini glances around the cafeteria, seemingly looking for someone in particular, then slips her phone out of her pocket, “Jay should be here by now, right?”

“Probably,” Kim answers, shrugging and trying to push down the anxious feeling of every cell in her body screaming for her to bolt out of the building, “I don’t know where he usually hangs out in the mornings, though.”

Trini types out a text, sends it off with another _bing!_ , then gets up. “I’m gonna go look for him,” she mutters, “See you guys in class.”

“See ya, crazy girl,” Zack says, giving Trini a fist bump as she goes.

Kim’s goodbye dies in her throat.

 

* * *

 

After a few quick texts back and forth to figure out where he is, Trini finally finds Jason walking into the school from the entrance next to the gym and matches his casual pace. His knuckles are white as he grips the strap of his bag. Something’s off.

“Hey. You okay, Jason?”

He glances at her as if suddenly realizing she was walking right next to him, “Uh, yeah, I’m fine. There’s just something I gotta do--” Jason shakes his head, dropping the thought, “You said you needed to talk to me?”

“Yeah, last night, I slept at Kimberly and Tommy’s because of the storm, and, uh…” She really doesn’t know how to put this without sounding like an ass about it, but whatever.

Jason stops and stares at her, waiting for her to finish her sentence. His grip is slightly less strict on his bag.

“We talked this morning,” Trini continues, uncharacteristically stumbling over her thoughts, but there’s a quiet buzzing in her head, telling her that it’s stupid and that Jason won’t care, “Over breakfast. I don’t… Do you trust them?”

He seems taken aback at the question and shrugs, noncommittally, “Uh, I mean… I don’t _not_ trust them, but…”

“I have a bad feeling about this,” she states, her face blank despite the amusing nature of her words.

Raising an eyebrow at her, Jason cracks a small, amused smile, “What do your feelings tell you, Anakin?”

Trini rolls her eyes. “They tell me you’re a nerd,” she mutters, crossing her arms and sighing, “But… they also tell me that there’s something else. Something more. Kimberly and Tommy aren’t telling us everything, and I know they gave us that whole ‘spoiling the future’ spiel, but there’s something… worse that they’re expecting.”

“Someone who’s gonna come for the Zeo Crystal, probably,” he muses.

Immediately, she thinks, _What if_ **_they’re_ ** _coming for the Zeo Crystal?_ and that freezes her on the spot.

She curses under her breath, “Shit.”

“What?”

“It’s stupid.” Of course, it is. It _always_ is. It was when she’d said the same thing to Kim nights ago.

“Trini--”

“What if,” she sighs, heavily, “What if it’s them? What if they’re the ones who’re coming?”

Jason’s brow furrows, and he shakes his head, waving a flippant hand at her, “Them? Come on, that’s--” She sees his lips almost form the word “stupid,” but then, he recovers and continues, “That’s ridiculous, Trini. You-- we saw that stuff the Grid showed us. Those were their memories. They were Rangers like us… why would they go after the crystal?”

She doesn’t have an answer for that.

“I don’t know, Jay.”

He reaches over and gently nudges her shoulder with his fist, “Try to relax, alright? If something happens, we can totally kick their asses. If not, then we make some new friends, right?”

“Yeah, sure.”

With an only slightly reassuring smile, Jason’s off in the direction of C hall, waving a small goodbye at her.

Trini’s throat closes up, and that buzzing is back in her head, confirming her suspicions that Jason didn’t take her as seriously as she’d wanted him to. Grumbling to herself, she pulls her beanie down on her head to where it sits right above her eyes and trudges off in the direction of her locker, just as the first bell rings.

 

* * *

 

Despite the fact that she’s already had her coffee and breakfast for the morning, Kimberly is back for round two, sitting at one of the tables outside of a Starbucks, sipping at her second cup for the day. Next to her, Tommy is definitely taking a nap, even though she can’t see his eyes through his sunglasses. The way his arms are crossed and his head is slightly tilted forward and the fact that he’s reclined in his chair gives it all away.

Across from her, Adam watches Tommy nod off, amusedly munching on a breakfast sandwich.

“‘S been awhile since we’ve gotten together like this,” Adam comments between bites.

Tommy grunts, but Kimberly isn’t quite sure if he’s answering Adam or just falling into the land of napping in public.

“Yeah,” she chuckles, “Too long.” A year since they’d had their most recent video chat over Skype, and then everyone had gotten too busy to make any further plans. _Two_ years since she last saw him in person besides the annual Ranger Reunions and that had been while morphed and fighting the Armada.

“When’re you guys gonna visit me for fun and not for Ranger business, huh?” he jokes, eyes crinkling in jest.

There’s a crumb on the corner of Adam’s lips, and Kimberly has to clasp her hands in her lap to stop herself from simply reaching over and touching him. It’s been over two years, and they haven’t exactly had time to revisit boundaries yet.

Instead, she motions at her own mouth and nods at his napkin, answering while he takes care of that, “Even if we did visit for fun… we’d still need a reason, you know.” Kimberly flashes him a wry smile; she’s just _teasing_ , of course, beating around the proverbial bush. It’s a fun game, one she hasn’t played in too long.

“What, catching up isn’t a good enough reason?” Adam clutches at his chest in mock offense, “I’m hurt, Kim.”

She snorts, “I mean, Tommy happens to enjoy our bed a lot during the weekends, so dragging him out of it just to visit you better be worth it.”

“I can confirm that,” Tommy mumbles, not moving an inch. If Kimberly squints and looks hard enough, she can just barely see the wink he shoots her from behind his shaded lenses.

Adam finishes off his sandwich and wipes his hands on his napkin then his jeans, earning him a disapproving eyeroll from Kimberly. He pretends to sit on his response for a moment then shrugs, imitating the cheeky smile she’d given him seconds ago, “I make a pretty mean lava cake, if I do say so myself… Although, I only let guests have a taste.”

Tommy pipes up, flatly, “That’s gay, Adam.”

“Thanks, I--” He freezes, his mouth half-open, eyes focused on something over Kimberly’s left shoulder.

She doesn’t whirl around until she hears the harsh sound of screaming metal and the screech of braking tires.

Standing in down the road, feet away from a car that had skidded to a stop, is a Putty, pieces of asphalt breaking from the ground to merge with it, building, building, and building until it towers over the fleeing citizens of Angel Grove.

“That’s… no hologram,” Kimberly says, her heart sinking.

All at once, the three of them bolt out of their chairs. Kimberly pulls her phone out of her pocket and warns the kids with a text. More putties form from the ground up, and she stumbles over a chair, grumbling as Tommy guides her with a hand on her back _away_ from danger. Instead of to it, like normal people.

**_The Ranger Bunch_ **

_[KO 9:41 AM] Putty alert._

She glances around for a street sign and spots it flying at a shop window, thrown javelin-style by an uglier-in-person Putty.

Well, shit.

“Hey, Adam, what street is this again?”

“Uh, Mariner Bay.”

Of course it would be.

_[KO 9:42 AM] Putties on Mariner Bay. Right now. Go._

 

* * *

 

The first thing Kim notices when she enters Biology is that the desks are pushed together in a lab set-up. The second thing is that Trini is in her usual spot in the back, next to an empty stool. An audible sigh of relief leaves her lips, and she makes a beeline for that stool, hoping to get to it before either A) someone else sits down next to Trini or B) Trini decides to give Kim a taste of her own medicine and brush her off.

Trini glances at her when she stops at the stool, waiting for her to speak.

“Can I, um, sit here?”

Her brain makes a Mean Girls joke that’s completely unwarranted; Kim mentally struggles to not let herself get distracted by it.

Trini nonchalantly shrugs, “We’re lab partners, aren’t we?”

“We don’t have assigned lab partners, so.”

A sigh. “Fine. You can sit here.” A pause. “I’d _like_ for you to sit here.”

Oh, she thinks she’s going to die.

Kim takes her seat but doesn’t get the chance to say anything because, just then, the bell rings, and Mrs. Whaley launches straight into the planned lab for the day.

Twenty grueling minutes into the lab, there’s finally a moment where they just have to sit and _wait_ instead of having their hands busy collecting data, so Kim takes her chance before the window of opportunity closes.

“Trini--” she starts but is cut off by the blaring siren of the fire alarm.

Jesus fucking Christ.

She has the worst luck.

“It’s gonna have to wait, princess,” Trini mutters, getting up from her seat.

Kim sighs and reluctantly follows the rest of the class out of the room, already feeling the beginning of a headache start to form. Beside her, Trini’s taken out her headphones and fitted them tightly over her beanie, her mouth pulled into a disgruntled frown at the noise that assaults them when they come into the hallway.

The chaos is maddening, as all fire drills are, but there’s something different about this one.

Someone shoves past Kim, and she almost -- _almost_ \-- yanks them back to rip them a new one but then, another student zips past her and Trini, yelling one word: “Putties!”

Oh.

Kim and Trini exchange a nervous glance, and both of their phones go off at the same time, vibrating in their pockets.

**_The Ranger Bunch_ **

_[KO 9:41 AM] Putty alert._

_[KO 9:42 AM] Putties on Mariner Bay. Right now. Go._

Kim texts back with one hand and instinctively just grabs Trini’s with the other and takes off down the hallway, in the exact opposite of the scrambling flow of students.

_[KH 9:43 AM] got it._

It takes her two hands to switch group chats, so she lets go of Trini’s and tries not to think about how empty her hand feels, even while she’s holding her phone.

**_Power Geeks™_ **

_[KH 9:43 AM] where’s everyone??? i’m with trini in downstairs d hall._

_[ZT 9:43 AM] c_

_[ZT 9:43 AM] hid in downstairs rr_

_[ZT 9:43 AM] j’s in a?_

_[JS 9:44 AM] i’m in b_

_[KH 9:44 AM] billy?_

_[JS 9:44 AM] upstairs a i think_

_[JS 9:46 AM] wait hold on_

_[JS 9:46 AM] everyone meet in upstairs a and look for billy_

_[JS 9:46 AM] dont wait for me_

 

* * *

 

The buzzing group chat stares up at Jason as he leaves his classroom, joining the crowd of students scrambling by in the hallway.

_[JS 9:44 AM] upstairs a i think_

Jason only just sends his text off when his shoulder is jostled and he’s met by a whirlwind of blonde hair as one of his classmates, Emily, frantically shoves past him in the wrong direction. He reaches out, lightning fast, and grabs her arm but not _too_ hard and pulls her back.

“Hey!” she shouts, skidding to a stop and glaring at him, “Let _go_ of me.”

“Where the hell do you think you’re going? The exit’s _that_ way,” he asks, squinting at her in confusion.

Well, he wasn’t heading towards the exit, either, but… he’s a Power Ranger.

“I know that,” Emily mutters, yanking her arm out of his grasp, and glances hurriedly down the hallway full of chaos, “I need to find my dad.”

A string of kids brush right by them, and Jason presses himself against the closest wall of lockers, motioning for Emily to do the same.

He starts, “What you _need_ to do is stay with the class--”

She looks over his shoulder and rolls her eyes, flashing him a small smirk as she cuts him off, “Which _you’ve_ already lost, golden boy.” Emily makes a move to continue her trek in the opposite direction of the hallway’s flow, and Jason sighs, exasperated, to himself, tugging on her jacket sleeve again. She shoots him another glare, “You’re not gonna stop me, Jay.”

“I’m--” He’s interrupted when someone runs right between them. Fucking fire drills. Even though this _is_ the real thing. “I’m not trying to. I’m going with you.”

Emily looks him up and down for a second then nods slightly, “Fine. His classroom's in downstairs C hall.”

"Yeah, I _know._ "

His hands are typing on his phone as soon as Emily speaks, even as she breaks into a run down B hall, not looking back to see if he’s following.

_[JS 9:46 AM] wait hold on_

_[JS 9:46 AM] everyone meet in upstairs a and look for billy_

_[JS 9:46 AM] dont wait for me_

Jason doesn’t pause for a response and tucks his phone back into his pocket, jogging after Emily. It’s a damn good thing that nobody’s actually treating it like a fire drill (ironically) because otherwise he’d be worried about being caught absent from the head count and having to explain where he was.

“Oh, I was busy saving the town from giant rock monsters because I’m a Power Ranger,” sounds like an _amazing_ excuse.

In the chaos, nobody stops to ask them where they’re going or even really notices that they're heading deeper into the school instead. They rush into the back end of C hall through a connecting hallway, and, almost immediately, Jason collides head-on with someone and stumbles backwards, simultaneously cursing and praising his luck that he didn’t send the man flying through a row of lockers.

“Crap, sorry,” he takes a second to see who it is with a pause of surprise, “Coach Jordan.”

“Dad!” Emily’s at the man’s side in a flash, pulling him into a tight hug.

Well, that was quick.

Mr. Jordan fusses over his daughter, his rapid words overlapping with hers.

“Do you know where Mum--”

“Her office is being evacuated--”

“When are we gonna be done with this shit--”

“ _Language--_ we need to get out of here first, then you can complain all you want.”

Emily groans and runs a hand through her hair, scowling as someone bumps into her without apologizing, “Why are they even letting us _go_? How far are we from the danger?”

He’s not complaining. It’d be a _lot_ harder to morph if he was still stuck in History right now.

“The Putties were spotted on Mariner Bay,” Jason answers, automatically, only realizing how odd it sounds that he knows that when Emily and Mr. Jordan both shoot him confused looks.

“Uh, someone… said it in the hallway,” he lies, mentally wincing. _Nice save, Jay._

“Good, we have time to get to safety, then,” Mr. Jordan decides, taking his daughter’s hand and joining the hallway’s current.

Emily chuckles under her breath, “Don’t worry, Dad; the Power Rangers will swoop in and save us.”

Jason can’t help but crack a smile to himself at that, even as he purposefully falls behind and slips off in the direction of A hall when Emily and her father aren’t looking.

His phone buzzes in rapid succession in his pocket, and he pulls it out, changing directions as he reads.

**_Power Geeks™_ **

_[T 9:52 AM] found billy_

_[BC 9:52 AM] No-camera zone next to dumpster behind cafeteria where we can morph._

_[KH 9:52 AM] meet us there jay._

_[JS 9:53 AM] gotcha omw_

 

* * *

 

The street drowns in chaos within minutes. In all of the madness, Kimberly fights off an insistent nagging in her mind that tells her what she’s doing is wrong, that she should be throwing herself _into_ peril, instead of away from it.

However, there’s not much she can do right now.

So, here they are, scrambling into Adam’s car and gripping their seats tightly as he starts the engine and tears down Mariner Bay Avenue, fleeing from rock giants.

“So, uh, tell me again why we can’t morph?” Adam asks, his voice strained as he swerves to avoid debris on the road, jolting Kimberly and Tommy around.

“Um, we don’t, uh, wanna find out if there are consequences to having two sets of the same powers active at the same time,” Tommy explains, nervously glancing out the window as an abandoned car bursts into flames behind them, “Speaking of which, those kids are _late_.”

To Adam, Kimberly cheekily adds, “Too much pink energy is _dangerous_ ,” and, to Tommy, “Don’t worry; they’ll be here.”

Just as soon as she says that, a Putty comes barreling into the side of the car, narrowly missing Kimberly in the backseat. The car goes flying into the air, flipping over itself.

Kimberly _thinks_ she screams, but she’s not too sure.

Oh, this is how she’s going to die.

_SCREEECHHH!_

The side of the car Kimberly’s thankfully not on collapses in on itself, and their momentum crashes to a jarring halt. Blood rushes in her ears. Her shoulder aches from her seatbelt. The world won’t stop spinning.

They’re not quite on the ground, but at least they’re alive.

From outside of the car, she hears a muffled voice: “Dude, I can’t believe that worked! We caught a fucking _car_!” Oh. Zack.

“ _Honestly_? I can’t believe that worked, either.” Jason.

Adam glances between her and Tommy and breathes out a loud sigh of relief, his chest heaving.

Kimberly would try to do the same, but her brain is still processing the fact that she’s not scrap metal mush right now.

The car shifts, and they’re slowly lowered to the ground, settling down with a shaky landing. Jason’s red helmet pops up in view of the driver window, startling Adam into jumping and banging his head on the roof. Shaking off the disorientation, Adam rolls down the window at Jason’s gesturing.

“Is everyone okay in here? Nobody got hit by anything?” Jason asks, glancing at the three of them. If he’s surprised to see Kimberly in the backseat and Tommy on the passenger side, it’s not visible with his visor in place.

“Uh, yeah, we’re all good,” Tommy answers, nodding, then presses a hand to his temple right after, wincing, “Just… dizzy.”

Jason and Zack open the doors, stepping back to let everyone stumble out.

Adam examines the side of his car, choking out something akin to a cat's dying squeal. "I wasn't even _done_ paying this off," he whines.

Kimberly pats his shoulder, pursing her lips, "It's okay. We'll pitch in and get you a minivan."

Shaking his head, Adam looks at Jason and Zack as if seeing them for the first time -- well, the first time up close, at least. "Nice armor," he says with a casual nod at Zack like complimenting superheroes is something he does on the regular.

Zack visibly shifts in slight surprise, and Kimberly has to remind herself not to laugh because, technically, she's not supposed to let the kids know that Adam knows who they are. "Uh, thank you… citizen."

Kimberly almost lets out a groan but bites it back.

"Adam."

"Citizen Adam," Zack amends. Kimberly would bet that if she could see underneath his visor right now, there'd probably be a shitty grin on his face.

She glances at Tommy just in time to catch him rolling his eyes.

Jason reaches out, almost putting his hand on Kimberly's shoulder, but stops himself, and she hears a hint of forced authority seeping into his voice, "Are you all okay to get to safety, ma'am?"

Kimberly decides that she might hassle him later for the "ma'am" part.

"Yeah, I _guess_ we're alright," she mutters, dryly.

There's a loud crash behind them. Kimberly turns, catching the sight of Trini getting up from what sounded like a _very_ satisfying superhero landing across the street. The cement is cracked and caved in where her knee had slammed into it.

Trini brushes some dirt off of her armor, rolls her shoulders, and easily rips the stop sign next to her out of its post, holding it in one hand and dragging it on the ground as she squares up the group of Putties down the street.

Kimberly's arm tingles for a moment, and she swallows, suddenly very glad that she's one of the good guys.

"Black Ranger," Jason addresses Zack, and Kimberly's glad he knows not to make the same mistake she and the others did when they first became Rangers, "Blue and Pink are handling a swarm of Putties near the mine. Go help them out. Yellow and I have things handled here."

"Copy that." Zack's gone in a flash, disappearing in a run that definitely isn't true superhero speed but fast enough that trying to keep up with her eyes is disorienting.

"Come on," Tommy's voice is soft and low next to her ear; his hand slips into hers, and she lets herself be tugged away from the fray, "Let's let them do their jobs."

She scrambles to shelter, one hand in Tommy's and another in Adam's, and limits herself to only looking back once to see Jason ripping off a Putty's head and tossing it in Trini's direction.

Trini swings the stop sign in her hands, and the head vanishes into the sky.

 

* * *

 

Frowning behind her visor, Trini glances at the sign that once said _Welcome to Angel Grove._

Now, it just says _Wel Ang._

She stomps the head of the Putty at her feet with her heel and moves onto the next one, jumping over the ruined city sign and tackling another Putty at its center mass.

The Putty shatters, showering Trini with rocky debris, and she lands on the ground, awkwardly skidding and putting a giant dent in the road.

Well.

Trini scrambles to her feet, brushing the dirt off of her armor, and runs to help out Jason, who's taking on two Putties at once, his right side wide open as he deals with blocking swings from his left and front.

"Yellow Ranger!" Jason calls out as he finally gets the upper hand on one of the Putties, yanking it into a chokehold and crushing its head into dust, "I need a controlled push on my right flank before--"

Trini tunes him out, picking up her stop sign from the ground. It'd made for a damn good javelin when she hurled it straight through two Putties earlier.

"Chill out, boss," she says, rolling her eyes, even though Jason can't see her reaction -- he can definitely _hear_ her exasperation, however, "I have no idea what a 'push' or 'flank' is."

"I just wait for them to step up..." she continues, sweeping one Putty off of its feet. Another collapses to the ground next to its buddy when she impales it with one end of the stop sign. "And I take them down," she finishes, grinning smugly.

Jason rips off a Putty's arm and uses it to whack another Putty into smithereens. Trini comes up next to him as he finishes giving the one-armed Putty a brutal kick to the stomach. It disappears into the rubble of what used to be Fenix Jewelers.

"Maybe don't overthink it, _boss_ ," Trini says, holding the stop sign over her shoulder. If she had more time and tolerance for people, she might've tried out for softball.

"Please stop calling me that," Jason grumbles.

 

* * *

 

Dirt showers down on Kim as she smashes her foot into the side of a Putty's head, sending it crashing onto the ground.

"Is it just me," she asks, her breathing slightly strained, "Or are there more of these guys than normal?"

"What's normal?" Zack shouts, ducking a fist that was aimed right for his face, "We're fighting silly putty!"

Billy chimes in, "You know, it's possible we're simply fighting the same ones over and over."

Kim pauses to consider the possibility of that thought and slams into the ground face first, getting a visor full of dirt as a Putty tackles her from behind. She gets her legs coiled up to flip herself over and try to get out of being pinned down, but the Putty flies off of her, skidding feet away.

Billy helps her up. "Also, we punch way too hard," he comments, tilting his head. It's rather endearing. _He's_ rather endearing.

"Thanks, Billy."

"Anytime," he says, nodding, then motions at his own visor, "You got a little, uh…"

Kim wipes the dirt off of her helmet, "Thanks. Again."

Billy glances at his hand, clenches it into a fist, then unclenches it. "You realize we violate the laws of physics, right?" he asks nobody in particular.

"Only you could complain about being complete awesome, Billy," Zack says, laughing. He dodges a punch from a Putty, "Personally, I'm psyched -- if this is my floor, can you imagine my ceiling?"

Kim rolls her eyes and flips out of the way of a Putty trying to headbutt her.

Zack grabs the Putty he's fighting by the neck and smashes its head into another one nearby, knocking them both to the ground. "Who knows," he dusts his hands off, and Kim can hear the grin in his voice, "Maybe I can _fly_."

Kim finds herself back-to-back with Billy as a few Putties crowd around them. Behind her, Billy punches one. "That's exactly my point," he responds, "I haven't even mastered my regular body functions, let alone a bunch of new dangerous ones."

Kim chuckles as she knocks a Putty out with a solid left hook. "Just fake it 'til you make it," she says, "Pretend you know what you're doing -- you just might end up fooling yourself." She swallows and mentally thanks her own brain for not slipping up and saying "myself".

She only gets a second of a breather before the air is filled with a horrible _SCREEECHHH!_ Kim clamps her hands over her ears, a useless action of habit since her helmet is covering her ears anyway.

Next to the overpass, a Putty kicks a bland, white minivan, sending it skidding onto its side and barreling straight for the railing. The fearful screams of the family inside have the three Rangers freezing on the spot.

" _Oh_ man…" Billy says, uncharacteristically at a loss for words.

"This just got a whole new type of real," Kim swallows the uneasy feeling in her throat.

Zack taps her on the shoulder and breaks out into a run, the other two trailing behind him. "C'mon," he calls out over his shoulder, "Let's play hero."

"I got the Putty," Kim shouts, launching into a spinning kick that knocks the Putty off of its feet.

She glances at the boys and sees Billy grabbing the minivan and using his weight to hold it steady and Zack hopping up onto the side of it, ripping the driver's door off of its hinges.

The Putty lunges at her, and Kim smashes it in half with a battle cry.

When she looks back over at the boys, Zack has managed to get the kids out of the minivan, guiding them to the arms of their waiting mother. Kim jogs over to help, and that's when things go wrong.

_Clank!_

"Uh, _oh_ gosh!" Billy yells, "The van! It's falling! It's _falling!_ " His grip slips, yanking off the back left tire, and the van careens over the edge of the gully.

"Hold on, I've got-- _wait!_ " Zack lunges for the minivan as the father cries out for help, but his hand grasps at empty air.

Billy, still holding the lone tire in his hands, stands shock still. "This is very bad," he comments.

Kim glances around, her heart thudding in her ears, barely registering Billy's words. _If Kimberly were here, she'd know what to do, probably-- Nope, not going there._ Her gaze catches on a spool of cable wire, abandoned from the construction site since Rita's attack.

"Billy, that wire is pretty strong, yes?" she asks.

She doesn't give him time to reply and grabs the wire, unraveling it long enough that she hopes it'll reach _and_ hold her and an extra passenger. Kim hands one end of the wire to Billy, who almost drops the tire on her foot as he takes it.

"Sorry, Kim."

"You're fine, Billy. Loop this around the railing, will you?"

"Wait, where are you…" Billy asks after her as she runs off.

Kim leaps over the ledge and, behind her, hears Billy exclaim, " _Oh,_ my God."

The minivan crashes to the bottom of the gully. The father is still dropping through the air, his arms flailing.

"Hold on, falling dad," she shouts, gripping the cable tightly as she swoops in and snatches him out of the air with her free arm, "I gotcha."

With little difficulty, Billy and Zack pull her and the father back up to the top by the cable, and Kim is almost bowled over by hugs and awestruck glee from the man's kids.

"Oh, thank you, Lord, thank you," the mother exclaims, breathlessly, between clinging to her husband and nodding at Kim.

"Uh, it was no problem, ma'am," Kim says, thankful that her helmet hides the hot blush on her cheeks.

"Huh," Billy tilts his head at her in wonderment, "Maybe we can fly after all."

Kim chuckles at that, but her laughter dies down when she catches Zack's gaze and he turns away, stalking off.

 

* * *

 

Hours later, when cleanup is all done and the threat is gone, Kimberly stands near the back of the Command Center -- she's calling it that, now, even if it's just a Pin Art head and a swirling ball of light in the middle of the room -- next to Tommy as Zordon runs the Rangers through a post-mission briefing.

She frowns at herself, wondering when she started thinking in terms of briefings and tactical warfare.

"Excellent work, Rangers," Zordon's disembodied voice booms and echoes off of the metal walls of the spaceship, "With each day, your control over your new abilities grows, and with it -- my faith in you.

"The 'Goldar dust' will lose its ability to reanimate Rita's Putties over time," Zordon continues, "Soon, they will be gone, and Angel Grove will be safe once again."

Kimberly bites her tongue and resists the urge to say _anything._ Beside her, Tommy bristles, knowing exactly what she's thinking because he's on the same wavelength, too.

" _Safe_ is just another word for _boring_ ," Trini complains, rolling her eyes. Having seen her batter up on a Putty earlier, Kimberly can't fit the image of the girl clad in yellow armor in front of her with the same girl in spandex that she knew years before.

"Yeah, I'm not gonna say it's been fun beating up on Gumby and the Gang, but -- I've had worse Thursday nights," Kim says, flippantly.

"I loved Gumby and the Gang," Kimberly comments under her breath, catching the look Kim gives her over her shoulder.

Tommy chuckles, "I know you did."

"They mean -- we can handle anything you throw our way, Zordon," Jason speaks up, his authoritative voice echoing around the chamber, but it's not firm, not booming like his mentor's.

Billy chimes in, nervously, "Uh, within reason, of course. That's _not_ a challenge."

Kimberly spies something almost like a fond smile on Zordon's face, but when she blinks, it's gone.

"Alpha 5 will continue to monitor for future Putty activity. Until then, you should all get some much-deserved rest."

"Or," Kim says with a cheeky grin, "You know, go to school, see our friends, and maintain some hint of a normal life."

The four Rangers leave, brushing past Kimberly and Tommy. Kimberly shoots Kim a wink and chuckles when she simply rolls her eyes.

"Is anyone else actually getting more homework since the attack?" Kim asks as they disappear down the hallway that leads out of the ship. Kimberly doesn't hear a clear answer, but their laughter echoes back to her ears.

She almost turns to go after them, but Zordon speaks and she stops out of pure intrigue.

"Jason, a moment, please."

Kimberly and Tommy share a glance, and she crosses her arms, waiting and watching as Jason stands at attention.

"Do you still believe you can lead this team?"

" _Excuse_ me?" Jason raises his eyebrows, and his voice takes on an incredulous tone, "We just saved the world."

"One battle does not win the war, and one victory does not make a team," Zordon says, "Right now, you're relying on luck as much as skill to lead. For the others to follow, they have to believe that you not only know their strengths but how to use them properly."

"He's not wrong," she murmurs, soft enough for only Tommy to hear, "But Zordon was never like this when we were kids."

"More than just millennials have evolved," he whispers back.

Jason scoffs and throws his hands up, frustrated, "A few weeks ago, we didn't even know each other, and you're mad because we're not _The Beatles_ yet?"

"There are threats out there, Jason. More powerful and more dangerous than you can possibly imagine," Zordon explains, calmly.

Kimberly stiffens and starts calculating how fast it would take her to bolt out of the spaceship and if it's possible for Jason to outrun and overtake her. Which, considering everything, it probably is.

Tommy places a hand on her back, but his muscles are tense.

"And I assure you," Zordon continues, still looking at Jason, "Now that the Rangers are back, they're coming."

Jason sets his jaw and clenches his fists, "I promise we'll be ready when they come, then, Zordon." With that, he nods at his mentor and walks out without as much as a goodbye or look to Kimberly or Tommy.

When she can hear Jason's footsteps receding down the stairs and the sliding door closing shut behind him, Kimberly lets out a sigh too soon.

Zordon peers at her and Tommy. "They wouldn't ever be able to imagine what you know," he says.

Kimberly doesn't trust herself to speak, but her brain screams at her to get the hell out of there regardless. She forces herself to stay put. Her legs shake.

"And what do we know?" Tommy speaks up beside her and takes a step forward. She glances at him and notices that his hands are in his pockets, but even then, she can see his arms trembling.

"I think you can answer that question on your own… _Green_ Ranger."

Tommy freezes, and his breath leaves him in an audible sigh.

Kimberly's heart drops straight through the floor.

There's silence for a long, long time, and she half-expects the Rangers to come thudding up the stairs to tackle them both to the ground. The innocent should never have anything to worry about, of course, but her paranoia has never distinguished between her innocence and her guilt.

"How long have…" she steps forward to join Tommy and swallows the stone in her throat, "You _knew_?"

"Yes," Zordon nods as slightly as his form allows him to, "I knew. I've known since you came to town and the Morphing Grid showed me your past."

"You could've told Jason just now," she says. It's not a question.

"I could have, yes, but it isn't my place to do so," Zordon responds, so, so calmly; Kimberly feels like she's a child again, being sternly lectured at for making a mistake, "The responsibility lies with you. _When_ the Rangers find out is up to you."

Kimberly clenches her jaw. "There isn't even a Tommy Oliver in town yet," she counters, but it feels like a flimsy excuse and Zordon knows it. Everyone in the room knows it.

"But, there could be," Zordon says with finality, "You should get some rest as well." With that, he disappears back into his wall, and Kimberly lets out a heavy sigh.

"Come on," Tommy grabs her hand, a thoroughly unsettled look on his face, "Let's get out of here."

 

* * *

 

There's an uncharacteristic crackling inside of the Heavenly Hills Sawmill. The building hasn't seen activity in years, and all the equipment around is rusted beyond recognition.

As such, it's the perfect hiding place for them, according to his sister, miles outside of Angel Grove, far away from prying eyes.

Jacob repeats his disagreement for the third time since settling down for the night, even as he cozies up next to the trash can fire they've lit. "Staying put is dumb ass risky. We should keep moving," he says, casting a worried glance at Aubrey, who's still dressed in the same orange jumpsuit as he is, "What if someone stumbles in here?"

They _really_ need to find new clothes.

Aubrey scoffs, "Jacob, will you _relax_? Have a little faith. The cops ain't looking for two juvenile delinquents, okay? They're too busy dealing with the end of days out there." She smirks, "How else you think we got away, little brother?"

Frowning, Jacob says nothing and holds his hands closer to the fire.

"In the morning, we'll steal a ride, head south, and finally leave this waste of a town, once and for all," Aubrey says, crossing her arms, "Who knows, maybe we'll get lucky, those _things_ will come back, and we can watch Angel Grove burn live on TV."

Jacob glances around, his shoulders tense, "This place doesn't give you the creeps?" Something catches his eye in the shadows -- an odd shape. He wanders away as Aubrey stays by the trash can.

"What's not to love about an abandoned sawmill? Its four walls and plenty of firewood." she asks, teasingly.

He's got a long list of answers to that. "Unless it has an old sofa or something, I think we should--" Jacob stops in his tracks, squinting at the deformed shape's silhouette, "What the _hell_ is that?"

It hangs from the ceiling, upside down, frozen in animation. Jacob can make out a face -- or what's _supposed_ to be a face -- and a left arm just hanging there. "Wow," he whispers in awe then shouts, "Aubrey! Check it out. I think it's one of those Putty things."

He steps closer, and gold speckles glint off of the Putty's body in the dim moonlight.

"If this is all gold," he says, slowly reaching out, "We're gonna be rich--"

Suddenly, the Putty's arm breaks off from its body and stretches, lunging for him.

"What the--" It grabs him, snaking around his waist, and yanks. "Aubrey!" he screams, but his plea does nothing to stop the process, "Aub-- _No!_ "

 

* * *

 

The footsteps that approach as Kimberly pulls on her wetsuit startle her more than she'd admit. Although, to be fair, she sees Tommy tense out of the corner of her eye as well, so at least she's not alone.

Trini comes out of the cavern leading to the ship, her eyebrows raised, "Did I scare you?" Her tone isn't teasing, just curious. Or, maybe, suspicious. Kimberly isn't sure, but right now, she's paranoid enough to set off a bomb.

"These caves are creepy," she mutters.

"We're the only ones down here," Trini says with a roll of her eyes.

"Still."

"Whatever," Trini mutters, "You ready to go?"

Kimberly nods and pulls the last of her gear into place. She grumbles as Trini shoots up to the surface, splashing her and Tommy with water, and glances at him. "You think she suspects something?" she whispers, glancing over her shoulder and making sure that someone else isn't coming.

"Of course she does," Tommy sighs, "But, the innocent don't have anything to worry about."

There's a slight tug on the rope hooked to her belt -- Trini testing it and asking if she's ready. Kimberly gives her response in a firm pull from her side.

"Are we?" she asks, meeting Tommy's eyes.

He doesn't answer.

 

* * *

 

Kim leans against the wall of The Pit's entrance, her arms crossed and eyes focused on Zack in the middle of the room. He's a blur, whirling and spinning, smashing Putties left and right. He doesn't stop, not for anything, sweat glistening on his brow and his chest, and normally, Kim would find such aggressiveness, well, hot, but tonight isn't that night.

It doesn't help that she knows the mood he's in, which puts a big damper on the whole hot-when-aggressive thing.

"You need a break, Zack," she says, softly. Walking on eggshells is hard, but it's harder when the day had been going great hours ago.

"Easy for you to say," he grumbles, slamming his bandaged fist straight through a Putty's head, "You were a hero today."

Kim frowns and glares at his moving form, even though he doesn't look at her, "What's your _problem_ ? We did good. _You_ did good."

Zack ignores her and kicks a Putty across the room. It smashes into bits against the opposing wall.

Clenching her jaw, Kim calls out, "Pause the simulation!" As she'd suspected, Zack had the simulation running on autopilot so that he wouldn't need Alpha's intervention to run it, and everything slows to a standstill.

Zack is still moving, though, and falls through a shimmering Putty, hitting the ground with a thud. He gets up and frowns at her. "My problem," he mutters, his brow furrowing, "is that I want to be left _alone_ right now."

She can't believe this is happening, especially when she'd woken up next to him this morning and he'd told her-- whatever. "Fine," Kim huffs and turns on her heel, taking care to loudly stomp down the path that led out of The Pit. "Resume the simulation!" she calls out as she leaves, only feeling a tiny bit better -- but also a tiny bit guiltier -- when she hears him cursing.

As Kim rounds the corner, she nearly runs straight into Billy, who steadies her with a hand.

"Oh, hey, Billy," she sighs.

"Hey," he gives her a small smile, "How's Zack doing?"

Immediately, she scowls, "He's brooding. Maybe you'll have better luck than I did."

Billy frowns, "Would a hug help you feel better?"

"Only if you're fine with giving me one, sure."

He opens his arms for a hug, and she allows herself to melt into his arms. Kim sighs, a little more contentedly than before, and pulls away before Billy gets uncomfortable. "Thanks," she says, smiling, "I guess I've been saying that a lot to you today."

"Anytime," he replies, nodding, "I'll go check up on Zack, okay? I think Jason's waiting for you in the cave."

Billy brushes past her with a goodbye, and Kim continues on, cutting through the ship to get to the cavern.

When she gets to the end, Jason gets up from where he'd been sitting and dusts off his jeans.

"Trini already left," Jason says, "Took Kimberly and Tommy up, too."

"Alright," she asks, "What's the game plan for tonight?"

"Uh," Jason fishes his phone out of his pocket and glances at it, "Check your e-mail. School's open for everyone to get their stuff after, you know, the _fire_ alarm 'til, like, nine, so I was just gonna head there then home. I can give you a ride if you want."

Kim nods, "Sounds good to me."

Water splashes down on the cavern floor below as they leap into the surface above.

 

* * *

 

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Billy watches from the tunnel entrance as Zack's fist collides with yet another Putty.

"Come on, is that all you got?" he challenges, raising his fists up to guard his face. Another Putty lunges at him, and he sidesteps, smashing his elbow into its head. "Gotta be quicker than that," he taunts, cockily.

"You know, the average high school student needs nine hours of sleep to function properly… and you're quite below that." Billy pipes up, crossing his arms as Zack pauses to notice his presence. "Not that I'm calling you average," he amends, "I'm sure you're above average, moderately speaking."

"Go away, Billy," Zack mutters, shooting him a glare, and whirls, placing a well-aimed spinning kick to a Putty's right side, his heel digging into its body and crippling it, "Let me practice in peace."

He'd promised to check up on Zack for Kim, which didn't seem to be going too well so far, considering the abrasive front Zack was putting on right now.

"You saved lives today," Billy tries again, frowning, "Real people. Don't beat yourself up over one stupid little--"

" _Enough,_ " Zack's voice cuts through his words like butter to a knife-- a knife to butter, "I don't need a pep talk. I need you to be _better._ You might be used to screwing up, but I'm _not._ " He lashes out with his hand and grabs a Putty by the throat, crushing it when he closes his fist, "It won't happen again. Not now, not _ever._ "

"Someone almost grew up without a father today because I lost focus for a second," Zack mutters, angrily, holding his fists at his side, "Do you have any idea what that's like?"

Billy flinches and looks at the ground, grinding the heel of his shoe into the dirt. "Yeah," he says, softly, "I think I have an idea."

 

* * *

 

Two of the regular campus officers stand at attention behind the front doors of AGHS, waving in a small trickle of students as they go in to grab their stuff from when they'd ditched it during the attack.

Jason and Kim both flash their student IDs at the officers then part ways as Jason heads for B hall and Kim for C.

"Text me when you're done, alright?" Jason calls out over his shoulder at Kim, who waves him off in response.

He's been in the school past hours before, but the sun's setting and there's next to nobody around. Jason's watched enough supernatural teen dramas to know that walking down the hallway with only the sound of his sneakers squeaking against the floor always precedes something less than pleasant -- for him, presumably.

The door to all the classrooms are open with the lights on, so it's significantly less creepy, however. He approaches his History classroom and pokes his head in. It's empty, backpacks still strewn next to desks where everyone had left them. Well, alright.

Jason grabs his backpack from next to his desk and checks to make sure that all of his stuff, especially his laptop, is still there.

"Haven't you heard of honour among thieves?"

He turns at Emily's voice in the doorway and scoffs, "You mean, there is none, right?"

She shrugs and grabs her bag from the desk a couple of seats in front of him without checking it, "C'mon, Jay, fire alarm goes off, all hell breaks loose, and you think someone would mess with your stuff?"

Well, he's actually more worried about the pages of his notebook that are filled with notes from detention and sketches that Billy's drawn of them as Rangers, but when she puts it that way…

"Just being cautious is all," he says, evasively.

"Yeah?" Emily slings her bag over her shoulder and stops in front of him, sizing him up with a twinkle in her eye, "What's Jason Scott got to hide?"

"My sensitive dark side, of course," he raises his chin, giving her a teasing smile, "How are your parents? Your mom okay?"

Emily nods, "Mum's fine, dad's fine. He's waiting outside, so I can't stay and chat long. How are you doing, though? We ran into my dad then I look back a few seconds later and you've disappeared somewhere."

Jason pauses, mentally racking his brain for an explanation, "Uh. I was… looking for Billy."

"Cranston?"

"Yeah, Cranston," Jason shrugs, "I wanted to make sure he was okay, you know? Fire alarm, loud noise, flashing lights."

Emily squints at him, and he tries his best not to shrink under her gaze, "When'd you two start hanging out so much?"

"Detention," he answers, easily, because at least _that's_ not a lie.

"Huh. Kinda odd, but sure. I just wouldn't have expected the golden boy quarterback to hang out with an on-the-fringes nerd like Billy Cranston."

"Wouldn't have expected you to stereotype," Jason counters, smirking.

Emily holds her hands up in surrender, "No offense. I'm not stereotyping, but you know, people fall into patterns, whether they want to or not. And you're deviating."

"None taken, but nonconformity _is_ the new black."

She just tilts her head and smiles as she brushes past him.

"It's not weird. I mean, it's _not_ weird, right?" He's not sure if he's talking about his friendship with Billy or the lie she's hearing. Or both.

Emily rolls her eyes and chuckles as she leaves, calling over her shoulder, " _You're_ weird, Scott."

 

* * *

 

Kim walks into her Biology classroom the same exact moment that Trini walks out.

"Oh, sorry--" she mumbles, feeling her insides freeze up.

"No, you're good," Trini says, adjusting her bag on her shoulders, "Hey."

"Uh, hi."

Trini clears her throat. "Did you drive here?" she asks.

Kim thinks about her answer for a moment, wondering if Trini's asking for small talk's sake or for curiosity's sake. Or, rather, overthinking her answer. "Jason drove me," she finally responds.

"Oh, cool."

They both move to let each other by, but Kim goes to her left and Trini goes to her right.

Kim starts again, "Sorry--"

"No, you're good," Trini repeats then brushes past Kim, "I gotta go. See you."

"I-- Yeah, see you," she sighs and walks into the classroom, noticing that most of the backpacks and bags have already been cleared out. Grabbing her backpack, Kim slings it over her shoulder and begins the trudge back to the front of the school, pulling out her phone to text Jason.

 

* * *

 

After Trini walks _all_ the way to AGHS from the ship, she walks _all_ the way to Comfort Inn Suites, forcing her thoughts to not linger on Kim. However, the only alternative is thinking about where she's headed and her approaching talk with Kimberly, and _that_ circles back to Kim.

Naturally.

Kimberly answers the door only a few seconds after Trini knocks, scrutinizing her with an amused smirk. “Not soaked this time, I see,” she comments.

“Shut up,” Trini mutters, rolling her eyes and stepping into the room.

She just nods in greeting at Tommy, not missing the glance he gives Kimberly.

“Hey, Trini,” he says, already heading for the door, “I’m just gonna… grab some food from the lobby.”

He disappears into the hallway, closing the door behind him, and Trini raises an eyebrow at Kimberly, “He’s not very subtle, is he?”

“No, not at all,” Kimberly shakes her head, a smile on her lips.

Trini sighs and grumbles, throwing her bag down on the floor, "I only came because I'm pretty sure you would've hunted me down and forced me to talk in the middle of a Starbucks or something.”

“I probably would’ve,” Kimberly confirms with a chuckle, “This isn’t a conversation that I’d let you run from.”

At that, Trini raises an eyebrow. She _almost_ says what’s on her mind -- which would be _I’m not the one in this room who keeps running_ \-- but doesn’t, mostly because it wouldn’t help anyone for her to be passive aggressive right now.

Instead, she says with a roll of her eyes, "Well, I don't know what you're expecting, but I'm not here to pour out my whole soul to you or whatever. I mean, yeah, knowing that…” Trini pauses for a moment, finding the words going down -- or up -- her throat feeling odd, “... Another me is dead isn't the greatest thing to think about, but, you know, I'm not her."

She shrugs and shoves her hands into her pockets, "I'm never gonna be her."

"And I'm not asking you to be," Kimberly responds, softly, "I just... I'm just looking after you guys."

Despite Kimberly’s gentle tone, Trini feels a spike of irritation rise in her stomach. "Nobody asked you to," she drawls with a scowl. Kimberly flinches at her tone, and she sighs, heavily, her shoulders sagging, "Sorry. It's been a long day. That isn't even over yet."

Kimberly gives her a pitying look, "Do you want some water? Hot chocolate?"

"Yeah, hot chocolate's fine."

Trini settles into one of the stools at the kitchen island as Kimberly goes to make a cup of hot chocolate, her back to Trini as she busies herself with getting a mug out of the cabinet.

Kimberly's a few inches shorter than Kim, and as Trini watches her get on her tiptoes and reach for the cabinet, everything clicks in her mind, and she thinks of the million questions she has about shared food tastes and similar lives and asks the first question that surfaces in her mind -- the only one she's truly curious about.

"Were you in love with her?"

Kimberly's shoulders stiffens, and Trini herself tenses in case she overstepped _some_ kind of unspoken boundary, even if she's not exactly one to beat around the bush with these things. She asks what she wants to know, and she's always been more of a scalpel than a hammer.

Turning around, Kimberly doesn't meet her eyes and breathes out -- through clenched teeth, Trini notices, "Why would you think I was in love with her?"

 _Because maybe history repeats itself,_ Trini thinks, glancing down at her clasped hands, _as much as I'd rather it wouldn't._

Or, maybe, she's just guessing, and she's always been great at guessing.

"Well," Trini says, slowly, "You'd probably say she was your _best_ friend out of the -- I'm assuming -- many best friends you've had, right?"

It's a fleeting thought, but she wonders if, maybe, she's Kim's best friend. The idea, though, seems ridiculous. They've known each other for a month, at best, and despite everything they've been through already, and the possibility that there's more to come, Trini doubts that they're anywhere close to being best friends.

She's already set back any progress of that with her screw-up the other night, anyway.

"Yeah, she was my _best_ friend." Kimberly's voice is hollow, like a grave.

Trini can't even fathom what that'd be like, losing a best friend. She has a feeling that she kinda knows from seeing Billy's lifeless body at the docks and Jason -- their _fearless_ leader -- too stunned to move.

She hopes, mostly for her reputation, that Kimberly can't see on her face how the thought affects her.

"So," she continues, quietly, " _Were_ you? In love with her?"

At that, Kimberly takes a deep breath, a big one, and closes her eyes. Her shoulders shake ever so slightly.

"I don't know," Kimberly says, finally, opening her eyes and meeting Trini's gaze, "I might have been, but I don't think... I don't think I knew it at that time."

Trini stays quiet. Kimberly's words hit a little too close to home, in too many ways.

Kimberly keeps talking, "I was in love with her after she died and it- it broke me and after... and after, I wasn't sure if any of it had been real or if I had just, you know, been grieving and projected that onto her memory and called it 'love.'"

Trini keeps her face unerringly smooth, but on the inside, her heart and stomach twist into knots. Her words to Kim hang tauntingly in her mind like a fog that won't lift.

_Sometimes, in the heat of the moment, you just feel things. And you think they feel real._

Kimberly stares at her, waiting for her to speak.

"And now?" Trini asks, her throat dry. She wishes Kimberly would finish making that cup of hot chocolate instead of looking at her.

Kimberly glances at the cabinets and frowns. "I still don't know," she admits, quietly, "I don't think I'll ever know."

The stool scrapes on the tiled floor. Trini gets up and walks around the island, stopping in front of Kimberly. Her hands are in her pockets, so that she doesn't nervously clench and unclench them into fists.

She frowns, sympathy _and_ empathy for Kimberly gathering in her chest. "I think that you're right," Trini says, gently, forgetting the hard front she puts on, just for a moment, "You might have really loved her."

Trini's heard it all before -- that she's too young to know what she wants in life, _who_ she wants in life. But, she's suddenly a famous superhero, now, and she's glimpsed at her own action figure in the Target aisles, so Trini considers herself more mature than an average high school senior.

Kimberly looks at her and murmurs, hesitantly, "The '90s were progressive, you know, but I... I was afraid of finding out what would happen if I fell in love with my best friend."

The urge to shudder creeps up on the edge of Trini's mind. She pushes it down and clenches her jaw.

"I didn't even dare think about it 'til I wasn't an active Ranger anymore," Kimberly says, shaking her head.

"Well," Trini clears her throat and looks down at her socks, "Maybe, sometimes, because we're Rangers and because life is _different_ for us… sometimes, it takes a hard shove to kinda shake your reality and make you realize you like someone. Or, you know, love someone. And, maybe…" She takes a deep breath, waving away all thoughts of Kim from her mind, "Maybe she loved you, too, but she never realized it, either, because that shattering-reality moment never came."

Kimberly chuckles, her voice bitter as she wipes away tears from her eyes, "That's a bold claim to be making. You can't possibly know if she'd love me or not."

 _But, maybe she did,_ Trini thinks, _because, maybe, I do, too._

No, not right now. She squares her shoulders and purges her mind again. Later.

"But, I do," she argues, evenly, "Because Kim _isn't_ you, but she is... and I'm _not_ your Trini, but I am."

"Just _stop_ ," Kimberly snaps, abruptly, and Trini forces herself to not jump. Breathing out a half-choked sob, Kimberly hastily wipes more tears from her face with the palm of her hand.

Trini's heart sinks deeper into her chest.

There's a pause, a moment where she draws up a dozen possibilities in her mind of what she's supposed to do in this situation, and then, Trini sighs.

"Come here," she says, firmly, stepping forward and holding her arms out. She pulls Kimberly into a hug and doesn't grit her teeth or clench her jaw when Kimberly struggles for the briefest of seconds, trying to get out of Trini's arms.

That's it. She just holds her.

Kimberly finally relaxes, her breathing unsteady, and presses her face into Trini's shoulder, yet she still doesn't hug back. Which is, honestly, understandable and fine.

Trini can feel Kimberly's tears seeping through her shirt, but she's never been one to care. She stares at a spot on the wall over Kimberly's shoulder and hugs her tighter.

She shifts, only slightly so that Kimberly can hear her, and whispers softly into Kimberly's ear, "I love you."

In that moment, nothing clicks for her. There's no frantic, crashing waves of love or whatever, no sudden epiphany that Kimberly is some metaphor for her in Kim's place. Not that Trini had been expecting anything like that to happen, anyway.

She feels nothing, but Kimberly needs this -- needs _her_ right now.

Kimberly lets out a heavy sigh.

"I love you, too, Trini," she whispers back, voice slightly muffled.

 

* * *

 

Billy taps a pattern out at his side as he and Zack walk into the more-than-moderately-busy Java City. The whirring of the machinery and bustling of employees making drinks and calling out orders and names fills the air.

"Damn," Zack whistles under his breath, "Never seen this many people here."

Billy tilts his head. "I think it's because that Starbucks on Mariner Bay is closed off. From, you know, the Putties."

"Right."

"Have you been here before?" Billy asks.

Zack shakes his head and moves aside to let someone leave, "Nope. Never been a big fan of coffee. Kim says it sucks, though. Or, at least, she says their coffee sucks."

"Kim likes Starbucks," Billy states.

"Explains a lot," Zack says with a chuckle.

They get in line behind about half a dozen other people. Billy eyes the menu, finds what he's looking for, and glances at Zack, "Do you like hot chocolate?"

Zack shrugs, "Sure."

"Are you allergic to anything?"

He shakes his head.

Billy looks around the cafe -- it's busy enough that only a handful of tables are still empty, including ones outside. "Can you grab us a table?"

"Got it," Zack says, even as he reaches into his pocket for his wallet.

Billy stops him with a light touch to his shoulder, "You're okay, I got it."

Zack raises an eyebrow but pulls his hand out of his pocket, empty, "You sure?"

"My treat," Billy smiles, even wider when Zack returns his sentiment with a small one of his own.

He approaches the counter when it's his turn and orders two large white hot chocolates -- one regular and one with soy milk and without whipped cream. It only takes a few minutes for their drinks to be made, and he takes them to the table Zack has grabbed in the corner, making sure to set the right one down in front of his friend.

"Thanks," Zack murmurs, taking off the lid of his cup to let it cool off. Billy does the same.

"Anytime."

Billy pulls out his phone and scrolls through it, checking his e-mail. Zack's already got his phone out as well, and they just sit in silence for a few minutes. There's a new notification from AGHS about doors being opened until nine for everyone to go get their stuff; Billy checks the time on his phone. Only a bit after six. They've still got time.

"We should go get our stuff after this," Billy says.

Zack only makes a noise of agreement in his throat then takes a sip of his hot chocolate. His brow furrows, and he blinks, whispering like it's meant to be a secret, "Holy crap, this is _really_ good."

With a laugh, Billy nods and takes a sip from his own cup, blowing on it slightly so he doesn't burn his tongue, "It goes really good with Krispy Kreme."

Zack chuckles, "Yeah, well, until they rebuild, which probably won't be for awhile, there's always those dozen or so off-brands around town."

"We should go check them out," Billy suggests, "If you haven't been to any of them already."

Zack raises an eyebrow, "That's a _lot_ of donuts, Billy."

Billy stares at him, waiting.

Zack shrugs, "Yeah, sure, I'm down if you are."

It feels like a small victory in his chest, and Billy smiles down at his phone.

A few more moments of silence pass as Billy continues scrolling through various social media. He hears Zack pull up a game then curse under his breath when a disappointing sound indicates him losing. Another minute passes, and the sound repeats. Zack's phone thumps on the table as he sets it down; Billy looks up, catching his frown.

"Tough luck?" he asks, a bit amused.

"Yeah," Zack mumbles, offhandedly. He doesn't respond for a few seconds, his mind clearly on something else. He scratches his head then leans back in his chair and crosses his arms over his chest. "Just a lot of stuff on my mind," he says.

"The Putties?" Billy asks, almost immediately, because that's what _he'd_ been thinking about -- it's the most relevant and recent, anyway.

Zack shrugs, "A bit. Mostly other stuff."

Billy decides he doesn't like this vagueness but waits for Zack to elaborate. Or not, his choice. He takes a long sip of hot chocolate to fill the time and watches as Zack's eyes dart around the room, lost in his thoughts.

"Kim and I are… something," Zack says, finally, as Billy sets his cup down.

"Something?" Billy furrows his brow, "Like… _together_ something?" He wasn’t expecting that answer at all.

He's met with another shrug. "I guess. We haven't really talked about it much."

Billy tilts his head. "Is that what's bothering you?"

"I-- No, no, it's not," Zack sighs, "But I was a jerk to her earlier before you came and talked to me in The Pit."

Ah. Billy finally recognizes why Zack has his arms crossed over his chest now -- it's an instinctive, defensive gesture. "I ran into her before I came to talk to you," he says, "She seemed pretty hurt."

Zack rubs at his forehead, "Yeah, I was being stupid." He continues, frowning apologetically at Billy, "And I was being a jerk to you, too. I was angry about some stuff, and it wasn't right of me to take it out on you and Kim."

Billy nods, “Apology accepted. We’re cool.”

“Cool.”

“Do you wanna talk,” he asks, tensing when Zack does, too, “About it? Whatever you’re angry about?”

Zack drains almost half of his chocolate, “Uh, no. Not really. I mean, no offense against you, buddy, but I just, uh, I don’t think…”

“Not right now,” Billy finishes, nodding slightly in understanding.

Zack taps his fingers on the table. Picks up his phone and then puts it back down. “Yeah, thanks, Billy.”

 

* * *

 

Coming back from the lobby, Tommy runs into Trini just as he exits the elevator and she enters.

"Hey," he says, motioning at the mug in her hand, "Hot chocolate?"

"Yep," she takes a sip and nods at the pastry bag in his hand, "Let me guess. Strawberry donut for Kimberly?"

He blinks, stiffening in surprise, "How'd you-- nevermind."

They pass by each other, and as the elevator doors start to close, he does a double take, "Hey, wait, that's the hotel's mug--"

She waves a hand at him and rolls her eyes, "Don't _worry,_ I'll return it to the front desk." The elevator doors shut, and then he hears a muffled, "God, you're such a _dad._ "

Tommy turns the corner and swipes the door open to his room. His phone beeps as he enters.

_[AP 7:38 PM] Coming over in a bit._

"Hey," Kimberly murmurs when he comes in, busy with washing the dishes in the sink.

He sets her food down on the counter and comes up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist. "I ran into Trini in the elevator," he says, pressing a kiss to the top of her head, "How was your talk?"

"If you get wet, it's not my fault," Kimberly responds, ignoring him for a second, then sighs, "It was fine, I guess."

"Yeah? What'd you guys talk about?"

Kimberly shuts off the faucet, wipes her hands on a towel, then pries Tommy's arms from her waist.

Respectfully, Tommy takes a couple of steps back, his back hitting the kitchen island.

She doesn't look at him but rubs her neck, keeping her eyes low, "She, um, she asked me about Trini -- you know, _our_ Trini -- and we talked about that."

He stays silent.

Kimberly continues, "She… she asked me if I--" She stops, inhaling deeply and wringing her hands together, palpably uncomfortable. She doesn't have to finish for Tommy to get the gist, though.

Tommy's anxiety manifests as his stomach coiling up; for Kimberly, it's much broader than that, despite her small frame.

"Hey," he says, softly, holding his arms out in case she wants a hug, "It's okay. You don't have to tell me, I know."

She folds easily into his arms, burying her head into his shoulder. "Thank you," she murmurs.

 

* * *

 

_"Must be nice cutting school off early."_

Emily rolls her eyes and shifts, taking her laptop off of her lap and placing it on her bed as she switches to a sitting position. "Erm, yeah, Tommie, I don't really know if it's a fair trade-off, you know. No school but also aliens attacking."

On the screen, her sister shrugs and pulls her blanket up closer to her chin. The video lags for a split second. Typical Skype. _"Hey, we could switch if you want. Had a math test today that I didn't prepare shit for. Not that it matters."_

"I'm _pretty_ sure your grades matter," Emily replies, "And I'm not any better at maths than you are, so I can't help you out there."

 _"Maths,"_ Tommie mutters, mockingly, but she rounds it out with a teasing smile.

"Yeah, 'cause it's _mathematics._ "

Tommie makes another mocking noise in response.

"Whatever. Why don't you fight me?"

 _"Maybe I will,"_ Tommie challenges, smirking, _"You've been talking shit 'bout being a black belt for soooo long. Saturday night, you and me."_

"I'd kick your ass," Emily says, confidently, crossing her arms.

It's Tommie's turn to roll her eyes. _"Yeah, yeah, sure. I'd let you."_ She chuckles, _"I've gotta start getting ready for bed, though, so."_

"Yeah, 'course," Emily nods, pushing aside the empty feeling in her chest, "You've got a long day of packing tomorrow."

 _"Yep."_ Tommie smiles, _"Tell Edward and Rachel I'll see them soon, okay?"_

"Will do."

_"Love you."_

"Love you, too."

Tommie's side of the video call clicks off first, and Emily closes her laptop, getting out of bed and padding to the kitchen, following the smell of fajitas. Her parents are both in there, her mum cooking and her dad… grading as always.

"Hey," she greets her parents, tapping her dad on the shoulder as she passes, "Any news about school tomorrow?"

"Not really," Edward answers, not looking up from his papers, "But I'll let you know. I'm sure classes will still go on, though. The school wasn't damaged, therefore…"

"Therefore, ugh."

Emily comes up next to her mum and opens the kitchen cupboard, pulling out three plates.

Rachel gives her an impressed glance that she shrugs off, "Oh, I didn't even have to _ask_ this time."

"Stressful day. I saw the protests in front of the office when I rode to school this morning. Figured I'd be a good kid for once," she jokes.

"Business is business," Rachel says, casually. They're all used to it by now.

"Uh, Tommie says she'll see us soon," Emily switches the subject before they go any further, going over to set the table and putting a plate right on top of the paper Edward's grading, just for the amusement of how heavily he sighs, "Can't wait."

Rachel nods, "You wanna come with me to the airport Saturday, then?"

"Uh, probably won't be able to. With everything that's been going on, I'll probably have more work to do over the weekend than anything else." She glances at her dad and chuckles, "Not to mention, if Dad isn't gonna push back anything and everyone says he's one of the easiest English teachers around, I bet I won't have better luck with anyone else."

"I was considering being nice before you said that," Edward murmurs, writing a comment at the bottom of the page he's on in bright red pen, "I'll tell my students they can thank you for not getting extension."

Rachel turns the cooker off and walks over to Emily, pulling her into a hug, "Hey, how about Sunday we all have a day to ourselves? Help Tommie get settled in, maybe do some shopping, have dinner, go out for ice cream?"

"Sounds good," Emily cracks a smile, "Maybe all the aliens'll leave us alone for once."

 

* * *

 

Kim leans her head against the passenger window as Jason turns into her neighborhood.

"You know," she says, offhandedly, "Half the city is thrashed, a thousand people are living in the park because their homes are gone… and I heard my parents arguing last night about how our lawn's a little brown." She chuckles and rolls her eyes, commenting wryly, "It's like surviving a plane crash and complaining about the food."

"Do you think I'm a good leader?" Jason asks, abruptly. Kim glances at him, unsurprised that he's focused on the road. Probably hasn't even heard a word she's said.

"That why Zordon asked you stay behind?"

Jason grips the wheel a bit harder, and Kim sees the muscles in his jaw go taut, "He said that bad things are coming, and they won't wait for us to figure out how to work together. I need people to at least _pretend_ I'm in charge."

Kim scoffs, "Why? Because red's a primary color?"

His brow furrows, but he doesn't answer.

She continues, firmly, "We all started doing this the exact same time. You want everyone to start  looking to you -- maybe start by _listening_ to them first."

The car slows to a stop as they approach her house. Kim gets out, not giving Jason time to make up some excuse or push the blame onto someone else. She studies the yard as she walks up to the front door. Hmm. It _does_ seem a little brown.

"Thanks for the ride," she tells Jason, turning at the door, "Night."

"Hold up a sec," Jason approaches, slightly edging into her personal bubble, but Kim doesn't budge, standing firm, "I know everything's crazy right now, and we're all just trying to find our footing. But, you and I-- we have this thing-- between us-- in common, I mean…"

" _Uh-huh,_ " she says, slowly, raising her eyebrows at him, fully knowing where his train of thought is headed but also kinda of maybe just a little wanting to see how long it'll take him to get there, "Use your words, Jason."

"I'm just saying," Jason draws out, a bit sheepishly, "If we wanted, we…"

Kim hears the explosion before she sees it.

_BOOM!_

She and Jason both snap their heads in the direction of the bright flash that lights up the night sky far off in the distance.

Ah, duty calls.

"I have the worst luck in the world," Jason declares, frowning.

Kim mirrors his frown and echos, " _We_ have the worst luck."

It's a shame, Kim thinks. She kinda did want to see the end of their conversation, but it seems like that'll have to wait _just_ like everything else.

Jason fishes his power coin out of his pocket; it glows faintly in his hand as Kim's sure hers is in her bag. She already has one hand in her backpack, reaching for it.

They lock eyes, and Jason nods, "Guess it's morphin' time."

 

* * *

 

Off of the side of the backroads of Angel Grove, a lone semi-truck sits. On the outside, the words _Samaritan Relief_ are painted, but on the inside, it's a mobile HQ.

Melanie leans against one of the walls inside and takes a sip of coffee -- French dark roast, black, but crappy as usual -- from her thermos, watching the monitors on the walls beep and bing away.

A monitor to her right flashes red, and the analyst in front of it turns to her and reports, "Administrator, our satellites just picked up an explosion in Quadrant 17B. Multiple injuries. Thermal imaging is off the charts."

The eager grin on her face feels natural, normal. "It's them," she orders, "Let's move."

Melanie grabs her jacket off of someone else's chair and shrugs it on, heading out the ramp to the SUV already pulling up for her. She hops into the waiting passenger sit and buckles herself in. "Heard where we're going?" she asks the driver without looking at her.

"Yes, ma'am," the woman responds, peeling away from the semi-truck and tearing down the road, "Quadrant 17B. We'll be there shortly."

"Good."

Her phone rings in her pocket, and she slips it out. She whistles, almost lazily, their seven-note tune and waits for the response, "What truly lies in the hearts of men?"

_"That which can only be seen in the darkness."_

"Who am I speaking to?"

_"York, ma'am."_

Melanie sighs and resists the urge to rub the bridge of her nose, "What did I say about contacting me?"

A distorted chuckle comes through the line. _"My apologies, Director. I just wanted to inform you that I heard of a, uh, disturbance over in--"_

"Quadrant 17B. Yes, we're headed there now. Thank you for thinking of us," she says, dryly.

She can practically hear York's cheeky grin. _"No problem."_

"Oh, and York?"

_"Yes?"_

"Stay where you are, and don't interfere. I know you're _just_ curious, but you've got your own responsibilities."

_"Copy that."_

 

* * *

 

The hotel room TV silently flashes with the images of a repeating news editorial. On the screen, shaky phone footage of the Rangers fighting Putties during the day plays, and the title flashes across the screen: _SCHOOLS EVACUATED EARLY DURING PUTTY ATTACK._

Kimberly, laying on the bed with Tommy, frowns, "Just another Thursday, right?"

At the kitchen island, Adam sighs and grabs his phone as it beeps several times. "'Scuse me," he says, getting up and heading for the door, "I gotta make a call."

Tommy reaches for his keycard on the nightstand and tosses it at Adam, "Hold up! Take this."

"It's dangerous to go alone!" Kimberly says with a chuckle.

Tommy gives her a peck on the cheek and smiles, " _This_ is why I married you."

"You two are disgusting," Adam calls over his shoulder, closing the room door behind him.

"Mm, he's just jealous," Kimberly teases with a smile, resting her head on Tommy's shoulder, "We're disgustingly cute."

Tommy snorts. "More like -- _I'm_ disgusting, you're cute."

"Hey, if you're okay with that, then fair enough."

 _Another_ breaking news report flickers across the screen, interrupting the current report, and Kimberly unmutes the TV, furrowing her brow.

_"--explosion on Eighth Avenue and Marchand Street. First responders are heading to the scene as I speak. Multiple injuries have been reported. The cause of the explosion is, at of right now, unknown--"_

"Think it's Putties again?" Kimberly asks, glancing at Tommy and biting her lower lip in worry.

"Wouldn't surprise me if it was."

The door opens, and Adam comes in, tossing Tommy's keycard back to him. "I miss anything?" he asks, looking at the TV.

"There's something going on over on Eighth and Marchand," Kimberly answers, "Probably Putties. I mean, it's never anything _normal_ like a blown transformer or a power outage."

Adam laughs, "I dunno, everything was fine before those kids became Rangers."

"Speaking of Rangers," Tommy asks, "Who'd you have to call?"

"Oh, just Carlos," Adam says, "He was wondering how I'm doing since all this stuff's been going on." He walks over to the bed and flops down at the end, slapping Tommy's legs away when Tommy wiggles a socked foot in his face.

"Well," Kimberly says, nudging Tommy in the side and winking at Adam, "You can tell Carlos that you've got two _big, strong_ bodyguards to protect you."

Adam snorts, "Did you just call yourself--"

"I can kick you off the bed," she threatens, holding up a finger at him.

 

* * *

 

Kim's helmet keeps the smoke filtered out of her suit, but it doesn't do anything for the ash in the air that sticks to her armor. She drags a hand across her visor, which only does so much, and tries her best to wipe it clean.

The building they're standing on is on fire, but nobody's left inside. The fire is spreading.

"I'll sweep the perimeter and see what we're dealing with," Jason says beside her.

She holds out a hand to stop him, "We should help the victims first."

He pauses then nods, "Right. Sorry."

Together, they leap down from the rooftop, Kim landing on her feet with Jason touching down with his knees, leaving cracks in the cement.

"We should work on your superhero landing," Kim teases, smiling just for a moment behind her visor.

Jason grumbles and mutters, "I'm getting better at it. Leave me alone."

The scene of the accident is chaotic. Whatever caused the explosion must have been big, Kim thinks. Debris is strewn everywhere, entire buildings have almost been leveled, and the air is filled with hectic chattering as people call out for help.

For a moment, it's too much, and Kim squeezes her eyes shut, taking a deep breath.

She feels Jason's hand on her shoulder and opens her eyes. He doesn't say anything, but he doesn't need to.

The closest victim they come to is a young woman, half-trapped underneath brick and metal. Jason clears the debris, helping the woman to her feet. "Ma'am, are you alright?" he asks.

"I… I think… everything hurts," she mumbles, disoriented.

Kim goes to her other side and glances her over for any external injuries, "Who did this? Little grey guys? Kinda rocky looking?" Not that Putties were exactly _little,_ but.

The woman raises her head to answer but sees something over KIm's shoulder. "It was _them,_ " she says, shakily, pointing.

Two… people stand amongst the wreckage. Or, at least, Kim thinks one of them is a person. A young girl, probably around her and Jason's age if Kim had to guess, in an orange jumpsuit straightens at the sight of the Rangers and smirks. Next to her is a guy… thing. He's wearing the remains of the same orange jumpsuit, but his entire left side -- torso, arm, and most disturbingly, face -- is deformed and jagged, rough and rocky-looking. He's tall but possibly _taller_ from whatever formed half of his body. His shirt is gone, and as he breathes, his chest rises and falls, skin shimmering with speckles of gold in the illumination of the firelight.

"Prisoners," Kim mutters to Jason. He tenses and inches closer to her. Behind them, rocks clatter to the ground as the woman they helped scrambles away. Kim glances over her shoulder and sees the woman slipping into a crowd further away from the danger zone. Good choice.

"We have company, little brother," the girl says, putting her hands on her hips. She seems to be sizing them up, and Kim self-consciously drops into a fighting stance, keeping her fists at her side.

"Yes, they're called _Rangers_. And we're going to destroy them," the guy -- boy? -- snarls, his voice rough like gravel, but Kim has the feeling that it wouldn't be if he didn't… look like he did.

The girl tilts her head, "I thought there'd be more."

"Patience, Aubrey," the guy says, "There are… and in assorted colors."

"So," Kim says under her breath, "You get the big, ugly one, and I get the girl. That seems fair, right?"

Jason isn't quite listening to her. "Red Ranger to Alpha 5," he speaks into the comm inside of his helmet, "I need… a three-point convergence zone. All points, um, at this location."

The girl -- Aubrey, apparently -- glares at her brother. "You said it would be here," she hisses to him, "Where is it?! I can't help you like this."

"It's deep below the building's foundation," he answers, a lot calmer than her, "I can _feel_ it." He turns and, before Kim or Jason can do anything, points at a building behind them that's only barely managing to stand. There's a giant hole in one of the walls, leading into the darkness inside. "Go! Hurry. Follow the path down. I can see it, reaching out for you," he commands Aubrey, "All you have to do is… take its hand."

"Be careful, Jacob," Aubrey calls over her shoulder, darting into the building.

Jacob chuckles, a loud, rough, and uneasy sound in his chest. "I don't have to be careful anymore," he boasts.

Kim glances at the hole where Aubrey disappeared into, but Jacob steps to the side, blocking her view of it with his massive form.

"Oh, no, you don't," he shakes his head and tuts at her, "You two aren't going _anywhere._ "

Jacob swings his left arm at them. He narrowly misses Jason, who leaps out of the way. Kim brings her arms up to protect her head, and rocks the size of golf balls annoyingly clatter off of her armor from Jacob's missed swing.

"This is so _familiar,_ " he babbles as he strides toward Kim, throwing up jabs that she dodges with ease, not wanting to risk blocking and finding out just how much more weight he has on her, "You and me -- always fight, always at each other's throats -- like I've done it a thousand times. Not a dream or a memory. But… a _feeling._ "

She has _no_ idea what the hell he's talking about, and frankly, she doesn't care.

"Yeah?" she goads, trying to distract him, "How's _this_ feel?"

Kim winds her fist back and punches him straight in the jaw as soon as she spots an opening in his approach. He stumbles back, and Jason is on him in a split second, kicking him in the stomach and sending him flying into a building.

"Whoever you are, whatever you want," Jason shouts, squaring his shoulders, "I can't _allow_ you to put any more innocent lives in _danger._ "

Jacob gets up, using a radiator in the debris to stumble to his feet. Something black drips from his lips. Try as she might, Kim _wants_ to think that it's not, but it most definitely is blood. Human blood, on the other hand, it probably is not.

He drags the radiator to him, and it screeches against the ground. "Isn't that a fantastic idea," he says, chuckling darkly. In a flash, he picks the radiator up with ease and hurls it with surprising strength. It careens through the air, straight at the helpless crowd. "Here!" he yells, laughing, "Catch!"

"Incoming!" Jason shouts, "People, _move!_ "

There's too many of them -- not enough time to get everyone out of the way.

Kim glances at Jason and notices the manhole he's standing over. "Hey, you ever play ultimate frisbee?" she asks, nodding at the sewer cover under his feet.

Confused, he looks down then nods at her, "Quick thinking."

"Thanks, I try."

Jason pries the manhole cover off and runs toward the crowd, flinging the cover straight at the radiator. The two collide, and the radiator flies off-course, disappearing into the building that Kim and Jason had been standing on minutes ago. A second passes, and then the walls explode, crumbling in fire and ruin.

Scattered gasps and sighs of relief come from the crowd.

"Everyone," Jason commands, "Run for your lives! _Now!_ " People scramble to heed his order.

Fully recovered, Jacob stands. "Well done," he says, mockingly.

Kim's too far away. "Watch out!" she yells, but it's too late.

Jacob charges at Jason, bum rushing him and sending him sprawling with a shoulder to the chest. Jason groans, struggling to get up.

"No good deed goes unpunished," Jacob taunts, turning around and picking up the manhole cover that Jason had thrown, "Don't you think, Pink Ranger?" He flings the cover right at her, and she can't dodge in time.

The cover digs into Kim's stomach, and she flies through the air, landing at an awkward angle on top of her own left arm. "Fuck," she mutters. This was gonna be so much worse tomorrow.

Puffing out his chest proudly, Jacob chuckles to himself as Kim rolls over onto her back and tries to catch her breath. He tilts his head at her, a dark glint in his eyes. "Yep," he says, grinning with sharp teeth, "There's that _feeling_ again."

 

* * *

 

Aubrey shines her flashlight around the tunnel, frowning when the beam of light lands on nothing useful once again.

"Jacob," she mutters, even though he can't hear her, "I swear if nothing's down here, I'm gonna shove my--"

Something catches her eye in the shadows, and she steps closer, her flashlight illuminating… something. A rocky hand, half buried in the ground, reaches for her, its surface covered in speckles of gold.

"Hello, gorgeous," she purrs, bending down to examine it; the hand is attached to a rocky body, but it's as dead as dead can be, "Alright. So, I don't know how this works, but whatever you are, whatever you gave him… it's my turn now."

Aubrey hesitantly pokes the hand with her finger.

Nothing happens.

"Huh," she murmurs, tilting her head in confusion, "Something's wrong."

 

* * *

 

Jacob talks too much.

Well, to be fair, Kim thinks, he has the right to with how much he's kicking their asses.

He lands a punch square on Jason's helmet, sending him flying into a wall that collapses under his weight and laughs. "I remember being forty feet tall, fighting you… but it wasn't me," he ponders, easily blocking a jab that Kim tries to get in, "How is that?"

Correction: Jacob _babbles_ too much, and Kim still has no idea what he's talking about.

A voice calls out, and Kim's head snaps up to see Zack. "If this is how you two _normally_ fight without me," he asks, "How the _heck_ are you still alive? Who's our ugly friend?"

Jason answers, "No idea. He's strong, but if we come at him together--"

Zack bolts off, and Kim groans to herself as Jacob lands a punch to her gut and she skids feet away, muscles aching.

"Hey, Rocky Road!" Zack yells, "Why don't I take a swing?"

His attention grabbed, Jacob whirls around, smirking. "By all means," he taunts, "You can't do any worse than your friends." In a flash, he picks up a steel beam and hefts it with ease, catching Zack square in the gut like a batter to a ball.

" _Zack!_ " Kim screams, but when she tries to get up, the world spins. She squeezes her eyes shut, focusing on getting up before looking at anything else.

"Well, I stand corrected… I don't _feel_ like I've ever killed one of you before, but there's a first time for everything." She can still hear Jacob talking as she blindly stumbles to her feet. Slowly, Kim opens her eyes just in time to see Jacob swing the beam straight for Zack's head. It cracks against his helmet with a sickening _crunch._ Zack makes a garbled noise of pain, and Kim's heart drops into her stomach.

Fuck. Honestly, fuck.

She forces herself to think, quickly. Instinct. Just instinct. Her eyes land on the manhole cover that'd switched hands so many times over the past couple of minutes.

"God, I fucking hate Frisbee," she mutters and grabs the disc.

Jacob towers over Zack's crumpled form, still gloating, "Now, let's see what's inside, shall we?"

Kim charges and leaps into the air, slamming the cover down between Jacob's shoulder blades with as much force as she can muster. "You know," she snarks as Jacob falls to his knees, "If you keep hitting everybody, we're never going to get you cleaned up and dating again and you'll spend your whole life wondering… where did it all go wrong?" She slams the cover down on his back again, just for good measure.

When she's satisfied that Jacob won't immediately pop right back up and deck her in the face, Kim rushes over to Zack and helps him up. "You okay there, big guy?" she asks, softly, already putting their quarrel from earlier in the evening behind her.

He groans and rubs his helmet, "I'll let you know when I put my head back on."

" _Rangers!_ " Jason's voice booms, "On me! Let's take him down." Kim looks over, sees that Trini and Billy have finally arrived, and can't help the sigh that leaves her throat.

Trini brings her fists up, eagerness that Kim slightly envies right now radiating from her stance, "Please tell me you didn't break all this stuff without us?"

Billy looks at Jacob and tilts his head, "Is that a putty -- or a guy? A puttyman. Man-putty, I guess."

Jacob chuckles, the sound loud and hollow in his chest, as he gets up, and Kim finally recognizes the liquid dripping from his lips. Not blood, but… gold.

"Good," he says, "This _feels_ right. This feels--"

" _Jacob!_ " Aubrey's voice pierces the air, and she comes running out of the building she'd disappeared into, "It's not working! Something's really wrong!"

That sounds like good news, if Kim's ever heard any.

Jacob turns, frowning, "How unfortunate. And everything was going _so_ well."

For him, maybe.

"Quickly," he tells Aubrey, "Follow me. I know how to fix this." Then, before anyone can stop him, he extends his left arm further than humanly possible -- probably because he _isn't_ human anymore -- and brings it crashing into the building next to them, collapsing the pillars holding up the structure.

All five Rangers look up at the crumbling building.

"Um, guys…" Zack trails off.

"You gotta be kidding," Billy mutters.

"We should be running," Kim says, flatly, but her feet won't move.

"Uh," Billy glances around then points at an abandoned semi-truck on the road. "Triangle of life," he yells, " _Triangle of life!_ "

Trini glances between him and the truck, 'What are you talking…"

Jason's the first of them to move. "Hurry!" he shouts, "Everyone up against the truck before--"

Billy and Zack scramble behind him.

Kim blanks out for just a second, and when she comes to, Trini is dragging her by the arm toward the semi-truck, and the rest of Jason's words are drowned out by the sound of falling brick.

_KABOOM!_

Kim's world goes black, and tons of brick and metal bear down on her.

She isn't dead, though, at least not yet because she can still feel some wiggle room around her body. Not completely trapped. Push. Something above her shifts. Push _again._ Her hand breaks through to the surface.

Coughing, Kim drags herself out of the pile of rubble, her body faintly aching in a way that she knows she'll feel much worse _tomorrow,_ glancing around to see the other four doing the same. "I don't know what that triangle thing is," she says, feeling like her voice is probably louder than it is in her ears, _especially_ because her ears are ringing, "But I love it."

"Yeah," Trini says, carefully stepping up next to her as she helps Jason up, "Fast thinking, Blue."

"It's actually an earthquake survival theory. Crouching next to a large, stable object creates a protection zone from collapsing material," Billy explains, "I mean, it _is_ California, but I never thought I'd have to use it, though."

Jason straightens up, "Eyes peeled, everyone. There could be a, um, counterattack or something."

Trini scoffs, and Kim looks to where she's gesturing at the ruined but empty horizon around them, "Don't think that's gonna be a problem, boss. Our bad guys are long gone. Whatever they were after, I think they got it."

 

* * *

 

Seeing the Rangers on TV isn’t new for Adam. He doesn’t make it a point to always keep up with the new teams, though, but seeing as this one is pretty much unavoidable…

He checks his pockets to make sure that his keys and phone are still there and glances at Kimberly and Tommy. They’re both grabbing their stuff as well.

“That didn’t look too good,” Kimberly says, a hint of concern in her voice, referring to the shaky helicopter footage that’d been broadcasting. It didn’t need to be any closer for everyone to see the specks of color being tossed around like rag dolls. “We’re gonna go check up on them.”

Adam nods, “Alright. I’m gonna go see if the park needs any help. Things aren’t getting any better.”

“Stay safe,” Tommy says.

With a quick hug goodbye, Adam leaves, choosing to jog down the stairwell instead of waiting for the elevator. He comes into the parking lot and pauses, momentarily forgetting that his car is, in fact, wrecked. He sighs and fishes his phone out of his pocket.

Time to call a taxi again.

 

* * *

 

"What the _heck_ was that, Zordon?"

Kimberly has holed herself up in the back of the Command Center, sticking to the shadows while the kids talk to Zordon. It's partially to give them privacy. But, also, because she doesn't want to be closer to Zordon right now than she has to be.

Tommy has the same idea as her and stands close enough for them to touch.

Jason steps forward, still talking, "If you want us to be effective, you need to keep us in the loop. Is Rita still alive? Is this her?"

Kimberly doesn't need to be a genius to figure that one out. From what she's heard, she's pretty sure that drifting afloat in space isn't going to keep Rita Repulsa down -- whether or not she's any bit like their Rita doesn't matter.

"Indirectly, yes," Zordon responds, calmly, "It's Goldar. Its remains are a reactive alloy in a constant state of allotropy that can--"

Zack cuts in, holding up a hand, "Whoa, _whoa._ Hold up. You said that dust stuff might jumpstart a few Putties, not make -- whatever that creature thingy back there was."

"Rita infused her monster with her power and drive for the Zeo Crystal," Zordon explains, "But, now that she's gone, its sentience is fading. So, it's seeking out a new purpose -- and new hosts."

Kimberly stiffens. She reaches for Tommy's hand and holds it, sighing softly when he gives her hand a reassuring squeeze. It's not too comforting, but it stops her from wanting to tear her skin off, which is all that she really needs right now.

"I know them," Billy pipes up, stepping forward, "I mean, I don't _know_ them, but… They're the Hogan twins. Jacob and Aubrey. Their dad -- _our_ dads -- both died in the same mining accident." He finishes, quietly, "They've had a pretty rough life."

Jason scoffs, and Kimberly can't see his face but she can see his shoulders tensing, "Yeah, well, it's about to get a lot _rougher._ Let's split up and use rotating patrols--"

Trini interrupts him, her tone incredulous, "Split up? Rock boy just schooled us and dropped a building on our heads. Now you want us to take him on _alone_?"

There's tension in the air. Kimberly frowns. These kids are too rough around the edges, too unused to working with others. She glances at Tommy and knows instinctively that he's thinking about how he used to butt heads with Jason -- and how much he regrets it.

She knows _she_ does. All of it.

"I don't see anyone else throwing out any ideas," Jason snaps back, turning to face Trini. His visor is drawn back, like all of theirs are, and his brow is creased in borderline irritation. "But, if you're not interested in helping, you're more than welcome to stay here."

Kimberly hides her disapproval with a cough, and Jason glances at her. She holds his gaze, mentally willing him to sense how stupid she thinks his words were. He looks away, quickly.

"There's a big difference between being 'scared' and 'smart', _boss,_ " Trini shoots back, putting her hands on her hips. It's a fleeting thought, but Kimberly doesn't doubt that Trini could easily take Jason if they were to put punches to their words.

"I asked you to stop calling me that," Jason mutters.

Zack crosses his arms, "But that's how it is, right? Your way or the highway?"

Jason glowers, " _Someone_ has to do it."

The kids don't see her do it, but Kimberly rolls her eyes and murmurs under her breath to Tommy, "God, someone's gonna slip on all this testosterone and break their neck."

Tommy only chuckles quietly in response.

"We should all probably cool down," Billy says, meekly, sounding extremely uncomfortable, "Maybe get some yogurt."

Jason huffs and shakes his head, turning and walking out of the room, right past Kimberly and Tommy. "You know what?" he calls over his shoulder, "Forget it. Do whatever you want. If you need me, I'll actually be out there doing something."

His footsteps recede, thudding down the stairs and gradually disappearing into silence.

Zordon lets out a sigh, "Rangers, you're all under an amazing amount of stress. Get some rest. Alpha will contact you when you're needed."

"That's not the worst idea," Kim says, quietly, speaking for the first time in almost an hour. Kimberly pays special attention to her, noticing how she rubs her left arm and keeps her eyes on the door where Jason had left.

"Yeah. We'll be around," Trini says as they walk away, their armor melting back into their bodies.

Kimberly waits until their footsteps can't be heard anymore before she steps further into the room, Tommy by her side.

Zordon regards her and Tommy. She imagines if he could move his head, it'd be tilted in curiosity right now. "A long time ago," he says, "I missed something fundamentally flawed inside a Ranger and paid the price for it."

Spurred on by his thoughts and his connection to the ship, the Morphing Grid flickers with a green light, showing images of Rita as the Green Ranger. Curiously, Kimberly notices that Rita's missing a familiar golden shield over her chest and files the information away for later.

"I will not make the same mistake twice."

She thinks about evil Rangers, about red eyes and guilt. Wonders if Rita struggled with her choice or if it came easy for her.

"Aye yi yi," Alpha mutters, coming into the room, having listened in but not participated; he twiddles his… thumbs, "These kids are… well, they're kids, Zordon… and kids screw up. It'll make them stronger in the end as long as they _survive._ "

At that, Kimberly can't help the scoff that leaves her mouth. Alpha glances at her, curiously, waiting for her to speak. "We survived because we were a team," she says, unable to help the bitterness that seeps into her tone, "And we had a mentor who had our backs."

"And where are you now?" Zordon asks.

Tommy crosses his arms, "Gee, I don't know. This room's full of liars, so I don't know if these kids have the same privileges. Well, all of us except Alpha."

Alpha waves a hand, "My programming allows me to lie if it's deemed for the greater good."

"Oh, that's _great._ "

"If you admit that you're not being honest," Zordon questions, "Then why don't you tell the Rangers the truth?"

Tommy frowns, "Why don't _you_?" When Zordon doesn't answer, he strides up to the Grid, peering into it, "I don't think you're being entirely honest with us, either. Or the kids, for that matter. I think that the Grid can show you more than you let on -- otherwise, it wouldn't be what it is."

Kimberly narrows her eyes as images flash inside of the Grid -- Rangers, past and present. It goes by too fast for her eyes to recognize, but her brain processes all almost two dozen teams in the split seconds.

She looks at him, a face in a wall, and finds that she doesn't quite trust him in the pit of her stomach. Not like she trusted _her_ Zordon.

"You know," she calls out, bringing Zordon and Alpha's attention to her, "Kim told me that you didn't tell them that you'd be getting a new body out of the deal once they managed to open the Grid and morph for the first time." She tilts her head, watching for his reaction, "It wouldn't surprise me if there were other things you aren't being completely upfront about."

"Your secrecy concerning your identities -- _Tommy's_ identity -- comes with a cost," Zordon states, his features blank, choosing to ignore her suspicious tone.

"Then we'll pay that cost _when_ it comes," Kimberly raises her chin, her eyes defiant. She isn't going to let herself be offput by this cheap imitation again. "Will you?"

 

* * *

 

"Hey! I got another one! I need some help over here!"

Melanie stands still as a police officer rushes by with another injured civilian.

Beside her, Chief Colton gazes at a small crew of Samaritan Relief volunteers. "Everybody, spread out!" he orders, "Vet the injured with paramedics. Hospitals are almost maxed out, so critical injuries only. Understood?" He's met with a crowd of nods.

"Chief," she offers, smoothly, "I've got two medical treatment centers setting up on Fourth Street. We can send non-priority there."

"You heard the lady. Injured to Fourth."

Her people disperse to carry out their tasks, and Colton takes off his hat and scratches his head, cursing wearily, "Damn it. I don't know how many disaster sites I can stand. You know, this used to be a fishing village, for crying out loud. Now, we've got superheroes and aliens throwing each other through buildings." He sighs, "The most I've ever had to deal with is traffic jams."

Melanie almost feels sorry for him.

Well, not quite.

She puts an optimistic pep to her words, "You know, my daddy used to say, 'You know what's better than a ten-foot wall? An eleven-foot ladder.'"

The chief looks at her, too tired and stretched thin to comprehend, "I don't get it."

She pats his shoulder reassuringly and gives him a small smile, "It means there's a solution to every problem, no matter how big. Terrible things happen to good people all the time. But humanity always finds a way to deal with it. _Always._ "

Colton nods, maybe not listening, but she just needs him to hear.

"That's why we're still around, Chief."

 

* * *

 

The gravel crackles below her boots. Melanie shines her flashlight around, following the light imprints of footsteps in the dirt.

"We've got ten minutes down here before Colton realizes we're not looking for survivors," she tells the agent at her side.

He nods, "Understood, Director. Witnesses said the two disappeared into this tunnel. It opens up about a hundred yards out. I've got tactical canvassing."

"When that giant gold monstrosity blew up, it showered half the city in debris." Melanie hates thinking about it -- the unknown of where all of that damn gold ended up. It'd be more helpful if she could control it or, at least, had information on where it all was.

"You think they're looking for something specific? A weapon? Maybe a black box?" the agent asks.

Melanie pauses and squints at the wall to her right. Gold specks shimmer underneath her flashlight. "Not sure," she says with a shrug, "But I'd hate to be standing in their way when they find it."

Another field agent's voice calls out, causing her to turn, "Administrator Sheer!" He waves her over, "Tactical followed drag marks leading out of the tunnel. The subjects are gone, but--" He holds up something, and even in the dimness of the tunnel, Melanie recognizes what looks to be Goldar's hand, "They left something behind. This what we're looking for, ma'am?"

A grin spreads across her face, and she chuckles, the sound echoing down the tunnel, "Yep. That's _my_ eleven-foot ladder."

 

* * *

 

Aubrey puts her hands on her hips, tapping her foot and glancing around the sawmill impatiently. "I grabbed it just like you said but nothing…" she frowns, nervousness edging into her voice, "Jacob, if this isn't going to work, we need to get out of here. They're going to be looking for us."

Shaking his head, Jacob kneels down next to the… thing… Putty body, she supposes, laying on the ground between them and places his hand -- his human hand -- on its chest. "Have a little faith, Bree. It's in there, alive but… asleep. I can feel it," he says, smiling, "All it needs… is a little jumpstart."

An eerie vibrating fills the air. Aubrey stiffens, her ears ringing, not enough to hurt but enough to make her wary.

The Putty's body jolts, shaping up to tower over them. Aubrey instinctively takes a step back, fear seizing her body, "Whoa, hold on--"

She doesn't even have time to fully scream before it engulfs her, " _Jacob!_ I changed my mind! I--"

A different set of thoughts enter her mind, soft whispers on the edge of her consciousness.

Gold. Dirt. She remembers being made from the dirt.

_Gold. I want gold._

"I know it's scary at first but--" Jacob starts, hesitantly, gauging her reaction.

Aubrey shakes her head, the action alone sending a new surge of excitement and adrenaline through her, "No. It's not scary… it's _beautiful._ Thoughts in my head. Memories that aren't my own. And the voice?"

_Five little Rangers tied up like fish._

"I can hear it, too," she says, grin as wide as a cat's.

_Where's my crystal? Crystal crystal crystal._

She holds up her right hand, now rocky, not human… alien, feeling a tingling, a pull in her body. Specks of gold shimmer in the moonlight, drifting in the air back and forth between them. "The energy -- rippling between us," she murmurs in awe, "Can you feel that?"

Jacob matches her grin, "Yes. I nearly took care of the Rangers all by myself, but now… with you, there's no way they'll stop us now."

Images flash in her mind. A battle. A giant robot. An ache in her chest. _Two_ aches in her chest.

"The Rangers _will_ fall, but I have something much _bigger_ in mind," she drawls, "Something familiar."

Energy crackles underneath her fingertips.

_Gold. Gold gold gold._

"It's time the people of Angel Grove looked _up_ to _us_ for a change. We aren't _invisible_ anymore."

 

* * *

 

Kim bumps Zack's shoulder with her own, "You good to get home, Zack?"

The air isn't tense between them anymore. They haven't had a moment alone, with Trini and Billy trailing behind out of the ship, for him to apologize, but Kim finds that she doesn't really care right now -- not after hearing that beam crack against Zack's head.

She's just glad he's okay.

"I'm fine," Zack answers, flashing her a grin, "That armor's almost as tough as I am. _Almost._ "

She glances away so that he can't see her bashful smile.

"Guys, wait. Before you go--"

Kim looks up at Jason's voice and stops. Billy bumps into her from behind and murmurs a soft apology. She wonders how long Jason's been waiting at the end of the cavern for them. And, maybe, how long he's been thinking of what to say.

"There's something I've got to say and I really need you all to listen. _Please._ "

Silence greets him. Trini's jacket ruffles as she crosses her arms and waits. Nervously, Kim bites her lower lip, hoping a squabble won't break out between the two of them again.

"I know some of you don't like the way I lead. You don't have to say it," he sighs, waving a hand, "I get it. And you know what? You're probably right."

Kim keeps it in her stomach that she's pretty sure only two of them, really, have an issue with Jason's leadership… style, if it can be called that, but frankly, she doesn't think she could do any better in his shoes.

"We're all new at this and the truth is I don't know what I'm doing," Jason continues, hanging his head, "I pretend to… but I don't. All those command phrases I use? I looked them up online, and, yes, I know they sound dumb.

"I didn't wanna say it, but… I'm absolutely terrified every single time we go out there."

He pauses, and that's when Kim becomes aware of footsteps sounding in the dirt behind them. She glances over her shoulder and sees Tommy and Kimberly approaching, stopping steps away from them. They're silent -- listening in on Jason's attempt at an apology, she realizes.

If their presence makes Jason any more nervous, he doesn't let it show. "Not because I'm afraid I'm gonna get hurt, but that I'll say or do something wrong and one of _you_ will pay for it," Jason swallows and rubs his neck, "That's the thing that keeps me up at night." He pointedly avoids Billy's gaze.

Kim closes her eyes, counts to five.

"Jason," she says, quietly, "We're all afraid something's going to go wrong. That's not just on you."

Zack bristles beside her, and she resists the urge to reach over and hold his hand. As it is, he crosses his arms, anyway, so she wouldn't be able to even if she tried. "So what're you saying?" he asks, "You quit?"

Jason shakes his head, "No. I'm saying… no more pretending. This is too hard for that. Being in charge is as much a burden as it is an honor. I'm figuring it out just like you guys are. So, what do you say? Can you guys forgive me for being an ass?"

Kim opens her mouth, ready to scold him for just another minute to keep him on his toes, but Alpha's voice projects throughout the cavern.

_"Rangers! Come in, please!"_

Billy responds, "Alpha, this is Billy. We hear you. What is it? Bad news?"

 _"We need you back at the ship now!"_ A static crackle interrupts him. _"Something terrible is headed for Angel Grove."_

Kimberly looks at all of them. "Never a dull day as a Ranger, huh?" she asks, amused, "Back to the ship, then."

Kim's armor begins to materialize on her hands first, even as she turns to walk back to the ship. "Looks like you're gonna have to wait," she teases as Jason falls into step beside her.

"Typical," he mutters.

"Join the club."

 

* * *

 

Even in the air and in the safety of her pterodactyl's cockpit, Kim can hear the voices booming out of the… well, uh, thing towering over downtown Angel Grove's buildings.

"Look, they think they can outrun us. How cute." The monster gazes down at the crowds of screaming civilians, amused. It has Jacob's gravelly voice.

The babbler and his sister are back. Kim glances around for Aubrey, still hearing her voice.

"Oh, I've always hated this place."

She squints at the monster and brings up her comms, "Uh, guys? They've… combined."

 _"Oh, that's phenomenal,"_ Zack mutters.

She gets the odd, odd urge to make a pun out of that.

Another voice crackles to life on the comms -- Kimberly from the ship, _"Don't you mean_ morphin _omenal?"_ A pause. _"Sorry, I couldn't resist."_

"Haha, very funny." Kim rolls her eyes.

"So, the refugee camp, then?" Jacob asks with glee.

"No," says Aubrey, "First… we make a mess."

The monster turns, and Kim keeps her pterodactyl steady as all of their Zords step in the monster's path.

Jason's voice echoes out from his cockpit, _"Alright. Last warning. Withdraw now or we_ make _you withdraw."_

 _"Anyone think they'll actually do it?"_ Zack asks over their private channel, _"Three-to-one odds."_

 _"This one's ending in tears, for sure,"_ Trini quips.

 _"Uh, yeah, but_ whose _tears?"_ Billy asks; Kim resists the urge to say hers, based on how her shoulder's beginning to truly ache from the fight earlier.

"FYI, guys," she puts a bounce into her step, er, voice, "Still learning how to fly this thing and I just wanna take a nap, so if we could maybe end this quickly, that'd be _great._ "

 _"It's your move,"_ Jason continues, still addressing the twins, _"But as you can see, it's five to one. How do you like those odds?"_

Oh, she really wishes he wouldn't say things like that. "Don't taunt the big, scary monster, Jay," she mutters through the private channel.

Jacob laughs. The sound makes Kim's stomach churn. "This should be fun."

"This is _our_ home," Aubrey yells, "If anyone's gonna destroy it, it should be us!" The monster rips a water tower off of its base and, before Kim can shout a warning, slams it against the tyrannosaurus' head.

From above the battlefield, Kim can see Trini jump at the monster with her Zord, only to be hurled off, straight at Billy's triceratops. She winces. Rough.

Zack's Mastodon charges straight at the monster and pins the monster's right arm to the side of a building with its horn… tusks… she's still getting used to  Zord anatomy. _"Kimberly!"_ he shouts, _"I got it pinned!"_

"Okay! Okay!" she fumbles with the controls for a second, "I'm heading for the head right now."

She swoops down, about to go for what she hopes would be a killing blow, but the monster rips up a telephone pole with its free arm, swinging the pole at her.

"Shit!" The pole slams dead center into one of her wings. Kim winces, engaging her thrusters and shooting higher into the air to avoid further damage. "Shit, shit, shit," she mutters, running a diagnostics check on her systems.

Everything's good. Functional. Kim breathes out a sigh of relief then dives back into the fray.

Jason's tyrannosaurus stumbles out of some rubble. The monster, bored, is already headed toward the refugee camp in the park, swinging at anything -- buildings, cars, people -- in its way.

 _"Guys, we're in some serious trouble here,"_ Jason sounds wired, strained.

 _No more pretending,_ Kim thinks.

 _"Contact Zordon!"_ Billy offers, _"He'll know what to do!"_

Kim waits for another voice to come in, but when Kimberly and Tommy stay silent, even though she knows they -- and Zordon, most definitely -- are listening in, she nods to herself and steels her nerves.

 _"No,"_ Zack counters, on the same wavelength as her, _"We can do this! We just have to hit it from all angles, all at once."_

"It's already headed toward the refugee camp," Kim comments, "We have to get there first or--" She stops herself when Jason audibly grumbles.

Trini's voice cuts in through the channel, loud and clear like a knife, _"Jason._ Jason! _We've got time for one choice. You're the leader._ Make the call. _"_

A moment of silence.

Jason lets out a shaky breath, _"Okay. Everyone on me. Let's give this thing something worth swinging at."_

 

* * *

 

A loud _BOOM!_ distracts Adam from the wound he's wrapping.

His head snaps up, and his stomach drops to his feet.

It's been… not awhile since he's seen a monster the size of a Megazord. Way too soon.

A megaphone crackles to life in the police chief's hands, but Adam tunes it out. He stares at the monster, and his body tingles.

A voice rough like gravel booms out from the monster, "So nice of you to lump everyone together for us." The monster waves a steel beam around, "Everyone, hold still while…"

Adam helps the woman he'd been patching up to her feet and shuffles her off in the direction of the nearest officer directing evacuation.

The screech of metal fills the air, and Adam whirls around to see a laser beam slice the monster's right arm off.

The Megazord -- not _his_ Megazord but _a_ very, very alien Megazord -- stands as tall as a building, sleek and powerful.

It reaches onto its back and pulls out a pterodactyl wing that converts into a sword. Interesting.

The monster takes a swing at the Megazord, but it feints to the left then rushes the monster, slamming it into the side of a building. Every punch the Megazord throws shakes the earth, causing more people to scream in a terrified frenzy as they scramble out of the park.

Adam stands rooted still, fascinated.

The Megazord takes one last swing and chops the monster's head right off.

It thuds to the ground, the life flickering out of it.

Adam chuckles to himself, "Go, _go,_ Power Rangers."

 

* * *

 

The cheers of her teammates -- her _friends_ \-- reaches her ears, and Kim lets out a breath of relief.

 _"Hell yeah! Good call, Jason!"_ Zack shouts, whooping loudly; Kim winces at the static feedback.

_"Thanks, Zack. That was… a close one."_

From the Megazord's left shoulder cockpit, Kim peers down at the rapidly crumbling body of the monster. "Uh, guys, hate to kill the mood, but what's stopping them from just building another walking Lincoln Log monster?"

 _"Zordon said they're covered by an alloy in flux, right?"_ Billy asks.

Kim almost opens her mouth to respond that she generally tunes Zordon out the moment he starts talking science, but Zack gets there first: _"I don't think any of us were paying attention. Why?"_

_"Because I think I know how to finally end this."_

 

* * *

 

Zack walks up to the recovering pair of twins, clearing his throat to announce his presence.

"Excuse me," he says, putting on his best customer service voice, "On behalf of the city of Angel Grove and the Power Rangers, I've been sent to accept your surrender… and generally make fun of you."

Around them, the street is in ruins. Which is, well, unfortunate.

Jacob grins, and Zack rolls his eyes. Can't the bad guys ever tell when they're beat? "Last time I saw you, I used your head for a pinata," Jacob chuckles, "Your skull still ringing?"

"One lucky hit ain't gonna keep me from protecting the innocent from you two idiots," Zack says, raising his chin, "So, you surrender or not?"

"Innocent?" Aubrey snarls, frowning in contempt, "You think this place is _innocent?_ My brother and I slept on the streets, begging, and no one gave a _damn._ They just looked down on us with disgust. But the first time something bad happens to Angel Grove, everyone comes running."

Her eyes narrow, "So, _no,_ we don't surrender. It's about time this place felt as powerless as _we_ did."

Well, that's the stupidest shit he's ever heard.

Zack crosses his arms and squares his shoulders, "Please. Pity party, table for two. A rough life don't give you an excuse to hurt people. I could spend _all day_ telling you about my screwed up life--"

He glances up, subtly, and spies Jason and Kim on the roof behind Aubrey and Jacob, ready and in position. "But you're too busy getting _electrocuted,_ " he finishes.

Jacob squints at him, "What?"

"Everyone, _clear!_ " Jason shouts, exposed cables in his hands, leaping down from the roof with Kim following behind.

The Hogan twins notice the muddy puddle they're standing in a moment too late.

Their screams get drowned out by the _fzzzzzz!_ crackle of electricity, and Zack winces on their behalf. That's gotta hurt.

_BOOM!_

He flinches at the rumbling in the air. Water and electricity and _alien_ life-forms covered in an alloy in a state of flux or whatever Billy and Zordon had said -- bad bad bad.

"Heads up!" Zack tackles Kim aside, narrowly missing debris that would've smacked right into her.

"Thanks for that," she breathes, dusting off her armor.

"Not even a thing," he says, knowing that she can sense the smile behind his visor, "Just returning the favor."

 

* * *

 

Melanie walks a bit ahead of Chief Colton and Garrett, some of her agents -- ah, relief crew -- trailing behind them.

"Chief," Garrett says, unable to keep the relief out of his voice, "Janice says only minor injuries reported so far. No fatalities."

Colton grumbles, "Well, it ain't a miracle until I say so. I want _every_ building searched until we find these bad guys."

They turn the corner, and Melanie stops dead in her tracks, a smile forming on her face.

"Chief Colton," she says, "Think I found your bad guys."

The Hogan twins stand in the clearing, frozen. Fossilized? Hm. She steps up to one of them -- the girl, Aubrey -- and flicks Aubrey's suspended arm. It _dings_ softly.

"Looks like they're alive, but they're solid as rock in… whatever this stuff is," she reports.

Colton is less like her, more wary, not too curious. Shame. "Careful," he mutters, "We don't know what this all means."

"It means we _won._ "

All eyes turn to the source of the voice.

Melanie has to stop herself from grinning at the sight of the Power Rangers standing on a nearby rooftop. It's late, but the moonlight glints off of their colorful armor.

Five warriors, guardians, heroes.

 _Soldiers,_ Melanie thinks as she looks up at them, _That's what they are. Will be._

"The power these two tapped into has been contained," the Red Ranger says, "They're no longer a threat." He stands tall in the middle between the five of them -- the leader as it's always been. Melanie squints at his figure and wonders how young he is behind that helmet.

"And you don't have to be scared of us, either," the Yellow Ranger chimes in, "Just FYI."

Colton scratches his head, "What'd you do to them?"

The Blue Ranger raises his hand slightly and offers an explanation, "Electro-crystallization. We used a high intensity electric field to phase shift the liquid gold into a solid state."

Something about the way he words that makes a lightbulb go off in Melanie's head. Interesting. So very, very interesting.

"You're welcome," the Black Ranger says, casually.

Colton raises his eyebrows, "You're _welcome?_ Since you showed up, this city's been nothing but a warzone."

 _Oh, Chief,_ she thinks, hiding her amusement behind a blank face, _This isn't a warzone -- not yet, at least._

The Red Ranger shakes his head, "A war you would've lost without us, Chief. We're the _good_ guys, whether you like it or not."

 

* * *

 

When the Rangers are gone and Colton has called in volunteers and officers to help sort through the rubble and find any victims, she comes up to him, still examining the frozen Hogan twins.

"Chief, I know your resources are stretched pretty thin. If you want, I can house these things in our medical facilities until you figure something out."

Colton rubs his neck. "Wow, really?" he asks, sounding relieved, "That'd be great. You know, I'd really appreciate it if you could take them…"

He whirls around to glare at her, "And then clear the _hell_ out of my town."

To Melanie's credit, she doesn't flinch or give any sign of being surprised or taken off-guard. "Pardon me?"

"I'm not an idiot, _doll,_ " he snarls, and she resists the urge to roll her eyes, "I've overlooked whatever you and yours are up to because I thought it might get my people some _help._ But you're _dangerous._ "

Mm, at least, he's right about one thing. She's almost _proud_ of him and this simpleton town.

"Chief, I have no idea what you're talking about," she lies, raising an eyebrow and faking innocence, "I promise. We _are_ just here to help."

He crosses his arms, says nothing.

She throws her hands up in surrender, "But if it'll make you feel better… we can leave."

"I don't wanna see a trace of Samaritan Relief in Angel Grove by sundown," he orders, "It's close to 3 AM, gives you plenty of time to spend the rest of the day packing."

She nods, accepting defeat, "Alright, Chief. Samaritan Relief will be gone by sundown today."

 

* * *

 

Angel Grove is in ruins. Again.

It takes hours to help around and navigate the crowds of people who need assistance. It's one thing to be a volunteer but another thing to be a Power Ranger volunteering. Kim finds that she ends up getting more hugs and frantic _Thank you's_ than anything else.

Honestly, it all makes her a little bit uncomfortable.

She's not a miracle worker or Jesus for that matter, and she can't rebuild everyone's homes just by accepting a handful of grateful hugs. The thought sits uneasily in her stomach.

The town is a chaotic mess. Trini ducks away for half an hour after checking her phone and trudging away, cursing about twenty-four missed calls from her mom. She asks Zack for his phone, leaves, and comes back and muttering, "I'm _really_ in trouble, now. Mom thought something happened to me."

Kim furrows her brow, feels like it's wrong to be eavesdropping, but she does it, anyway.

"What'd you say?" Zack asks.

"I told her that my phone got smashed when all hell broke loose and that I crashed at your place. Thanks for letting me use your phone."

" _Your_ phone isn't broken, though," Kim comments, unable to keep herself from inserting herself into the conversation.

Trini holds her cell up and crushes it in her fist in the blink of an eye. She drops the remains in a nearby trash can, "It is _now._ "

That… also works.

 

* * *

 

During the walk back to the ship, Kim slows down to match pace with Trini while the boys go ahead. They walk in silence for a few minutes, with Trini not even bristling at Kim’s presence. This is how the other girl is, Kim thinks, always patiently waiting for someone else to speak first.

They're finally alone. This is her chance. Finally, after such a long fucking day.

“Trini, I just wanted to say…” Kim starts, taking notice of how Trini straightens up just a fraction, her shoulders no longer slouching, “What you did today -- focusing Jason, bringing us together -- thank you. That was pretty awesome.”

Trini doesn’t even blush. “I know,” she responds, coolly, “I was there.”

Kim continues, taking Trini’s nonchalance as a better sign than outright abrasiveness, “Jason would deny it, but… he’s sensitive. Even a little fragile sometimes. He needs to know we’re behind--”

“Kim,” Trini cuts in, holding up a hand to stop her in her thoughts, “If you’re asking me to be all ‘ra-ra,’ that’s just not me.” She stops walking and turns to look Kim in the eyes, “In my family, if you care about someone, you question and annoy and people hate you for it -- but they’re better off in the end.

“Sorry. I don’t plan on changing,” she adds as an afterthought.

For a moment, Kim is silent as she processes Trini’s words. Out of the five of them, Trini is the most aloof, always kind of on her own and independent in a way, even when she’s standing in a crowd. The hard hitter, the bluntly honest one who purposefully _looks_ for the gritty stuff, even when Kim would have to fight her instincts that tell her to shy away from pain instead of digging her nails deeper into it.

It makes Trini stand out, especially to Kim.

“So, what you’re saying,” Kim draws out, slowly, with a teasing smile, “is you care about _all_ of us?”

Trini rolls her eyes and whirls on her heel, her stride ever-so-casual. “You know me -- go, go,  Power Rangers,” she calls out, dryly, over her shoulder, throwing up a “hoo-rah” fist in the air for dramatic effect.

What a tough cookie to crack.

Kim’s never shied away from a challenge, though.

They approach the edge of the ravine. The boys have already gone ahead down to the ship, so they’re alone up here. Kim decides to take the chance now before something else snatches it away from her. Like Putties or a fire alarm.

“Trini, wait -- I wanted to talk to you about, um, the other night. When I was in your room.”

Kim’s heart drops when she sees Trini tense up and braces herself for the absolute worse when the other girl looks at her.

“Before you say anything…” She hastily tries to shove her apology in, but something in Trini’s eyes stops her. Kim can’t quite describe it -- a silent look of “let me talk first.” So, she trails off.

Trini glances down at her shoes, scuffing the toe of one sneaker in the dirt; when she speaks, her voice is abnormally quiet, just like it’d been in the loneliness of her bedroom. “I’m sorry for what I said to you,” she starts, shaking her head when Kim opens her mouth to protest that there’s no need for an apology from _her_ , “No -- let me _finish._ You came and told me about your feelings, and I just brushed them off.”

“You brought up a valid concern,” Kim murmurs, wondering why she’s even opening her mouth at all. Figures, she wouldn’t even stick up for her own feelings.

“Yeah, I’m allowed to have my doubts and opinions or whatever _about_ you, but you…” Trini sighs, her shoulders sagging, “You trusted me, and I threw it in your face by telling you what you felt wasn’t real. _I_ don’t decide if what you feel is real or not. _You_ do, okay? I’m really, really sorry for hurting you. Your feelings are always valid, no matter what.”

A long silence stretches as Kim muses over Trini’s apology in her head, staring down at her hands. She opens and closes her fists several times, wishing she had something to occupy them with so she could focus on her thoughts.

Trini quietly clears her throat then slowly wraps her hands around Kim’s, giving her ample time to pull away.

Kim doesn’t and swears her heart starts beating even faster.

“You’re gonna kill me,” Kim whines under her breath.

A brief chuckle leaves Trini’s lips. “Well, then, I’m sorry for that, too,” she says, softly.

Taking a deep breath, Kim makes sure that her heart is beating evenly before she speaks. “I, um, I forgive you,” she adds, quickly, before Trini can say anything else, “Even though I’m still convinced you didn’t have to apologize for saying what you said.”

Trini grumbles and rolls her eyes, “You were pretty pissed if I remember correctly.”

“I was being a complete brat. Which I’m sorry for, by the way.”

“Wow,” Trini scoffs but doesn’t let go of Kim’s hands, “You suck at apologies.”

“I’m trying my best,” Kim rolls her eyes and continues in a quieter tone, “I, um, what I wanted to say _originally_ was that, uh, I’m sorry for just… kissing you, you know, out of the blue like that. Without warning or checking if you were okay with it or anything.”

Trini’s silent for a second, and the only way Kim knows that she heard her is the feeling of Trini’s hands slightly tightening around hers.

Then, Trini looks her dead in the eye, without hesitation, and confesses, “I didn’t exactly mind.”

Oh, _fuck._

“Oh. _Oh._ Would you, um--” She has a hard time getting words from her brain to her mouth; Trini holding her hands isn’t really helping either. Kim clears her throat, her heart skipping an entire beat when a smug look flickers across Trini’s features, and continues, still stumbling over her words, despite her efforts to, well, _not_ , “Would you mind if, uh, if it, um, happened again?”

While struggling to get her words out, Kim had automatically drawn closer, even before she’d finished her question, and, in return, Trini had done the same, instinctively following her lead.

Shit, Kim thinks, they’re _really_ close.

Her heart races wildly, threatening jump out of her chest.

She could be imagining it, but Kim swears she sees Trini breathe out a shaky exhale before answering.

“Not at all.”

_Oh, God. Jesus Christ. Fuck._

Her breaths come out shallow as she leans down and Trini reaches up, inches away from closing the space between their lips, and--

Her phone vibrates loudly in her pocket, jolting the pair apart.

Kim groans as loudly as she can, biting down on her lower lip hard enough to draw blood.

_Fuck. Everything. This is the third fucking time in twenty-four hours._

In front of her, Trini chuckles under her breath, an amused smile on her very, very kissable lips. But, the moment is gone, thrown off the fucking cliff, and Kim has no choice but to pull out her phone and check her texts.

There’s a brand new message in The Ranger Bunch, and Kim mentally curses what ever could be so important that it couldn’t have waited another minute to come in and interrupt what was about to be the start of a _very_ good Friday morning.

_[KO 5:54 AM] We’re on our way back to the ship._

_[KO 5:54 AM] Bought coffee and donuts since you guys have been up all night._

Oh, she’s going to _murder_ Kimberly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fuck that was long as heck... thanks for powering (lol) thru
> 
> a companion ficlet to this which is mostly just kimberly angst: http://archiveofourown.org/works/11731881
> 
> come join the legacy discord server! it’s mostly just me and my friends dicking around, watching power rangers or brooklyn 99, being gay over kimberly hart, and roasting tommy oliver https://discord.gg/E3Twck7


	10. Aftershock, Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Winding down from the chaos of yesterday, everyone tries to end their crazy week on a normal note, but Apex has other plans for the Rangers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 100k MY DUDES!!! i am so happy to have made it this far (i say, almost a year and only 10 chapters later lol), and i am so, so grateful to all of y'all who're reading this. i read a post a few days ago talking about how there's a misconception in fandom that writers only post stuff that they wanna write and not for the feedback because they may already know their stuff is good work or whatever, and while Legacy of Power is, admittedly, what i _want_ to write and not influenced by idk what y'all want to happen (hence, uh, the amazing abundance of poly rangers in here lol), i also write this for the feedback. because, ultimately, the feedback you guys give me is what keeps me motivated to write. i've had this chapter sitting here for about 2 months and it was just at a steady 5k for all of november and december as i worked on some other stuff, and then, like, last week, i decided to reread some old chapters and ended up looking at the comments, and even though i'd read them all before, seeing them again just lifted my spirits so much! i really love you guys and how appreciative and supportive you are of me!
> 
> ... and then i proceeded to write like 17k in a week lmao.
> 
>  **chapter-specific warnings:** several anxiety attacks/mentions. i BELIEVE that might be all, but please let me know in the comments if there's anything else i should be tagging. i do know that i mention og trini's death often in this fic, and i haven't been tagging specific warnings in certain chapters for mentions of her death, so if that makes you uncomfortable, just let me know in the comments, too. i want this reading experience to be enjoyable and safe for you guys.

_Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh._

Kim groans and pushes herself into a sitting position, brushing the dirt off of the back of her shirt.

The others sit feet away from her, looking equally as tired. Billy's found a sizable log to uncomfortably sit on, Jason leans against a rock, Trini sits next to Billy, and Zack is sprawled across Trini's lap. Kim meets Trini's eyes for a second. It's impossible to read Trini's features and tell how she feels about being used as a pillow.

"What?" Trini shoots her a confused look.

"Nothing, 'm tired," Kim mutters in response.

"When's the food getting here?" Zack asks, picking his head up from Trini's lap, "Someone ask Siri."

"None of us have iPhones," Jason says.

"When's the food getting here?" Zack repeats, louder.

"Maybe," Trini suggests, finally taking initiative and pushing Zack's head away from her; he simply rolls off of the log and lets himself hit the ground with a soft _thud,_ "You should ask Siri what grade you're gonna make on the test today if you don't start studying right _now._ "

There's a momentary pause, and the air stills.

Kim looks at Billy.

Billy looks at Kim then at Zack.

Zack blinks. His eyes widen then he scrambles to his feet, shouting, "Shit!" Hastily, he looks around and pats himself down as if his backpack will randomly appear inside of his jacket.

"Uh, your stuff's at home," Billy points out, helpfully, "I remember because I walked you home, and you said you were gonna go take a nap instead of study."

Amused, Kim giggles, and Zack frowns at her.

After a few seconds of watching him struggle, Trini grabs her backpack from next to her feet and holds it up to Zack, "Here, you can use my textbook."

Zack snatches the bag out of Trini's hands, almost panicking, and trudges over to a nearby tree to sit down and read, muttering to himself the entire time.

Trini waits until Zack is out of earshot before she looks Kim straight in the eye and says with a sly grin, "Bhavani just sent out an e-mail saying that she's moving the test to next Tuesday because of all the attacks yesterday."

Jason gapes at Trini, incredulously, "Why are you so _evil?_ "

Chuckling, Trini waves a hand, "Eh, he'll be fine."

 

* * *

 

Kim hears Kimberly grumbling to Tommy long before she actually sees her come up the quarry trail. She also smells the coffee and donuts long before that.

“It’s not Krispy Kreme,” Kimberly says, apologetically, as she uses the log Billy and Trini are sitting on as a makeshift table, setting a large bag full of smaller bags of donuts on it, “But it’ll do.”

“It’s Dunkin’,” Zack mutters, frowning, coming up behind Kimberly and Tommy. Kim chuckles to herself at how Kimberly flinches. “Further proof that Rita’s evil. She destroys Krispy Kreme, and we’re left with…” He trails off and shakes his head.

Kimberly rolls her eyes and pulls out one of the smaller bags, peeking inside before handing it to Zack, “Here. Two Oreo-creme-filled. Tommy has the coffee traveler and cups.”

Zack blinks, looks inside the bag, then gives her an abrupt hug, murmuring gleefully, "Ohhhh, I _love_ you _sooooo_ muchhhh."

"Gross, get off," Kimberly shrugs him off to go back to his studying by the tree then resumes handing out donuts to everyone else.

Kim ticks off each person as Kimberly gets to them, her brow furrowing at how eerily accurate Kimberly gets. Two chocolate frosted for Trini, two glazed for Jason, two bagels for Billy -- "You knew," Billy says, smiling, and Kimberly only winks in response -- and…

"Two strawberry frosted?" Kim asks in anticipation, raising her eyebrows.

"Don't forget the sprinkles," Kimberly hands her the last bag, and she grins, "I'm just glad you guys don't deviate when it comes to food."

"Oh, yeah?" Jason challenges, half of a donut already in his mouth, "What's my favorite food?"

"Sushi," Kimberly answers without missing a beat, "But watching you use chopsticks is hilariously bad."

"Damn… she's got me."

Kimberly nods over at where Zack is worriedly munching away at his donuts, an increasingly frustrated look on his face as he flips through the pages of Trini's textbook, "What's he doing?"

"He 'has' a test today that he hasn't studied for," Kim says, making air quotes with her fingers.

Kimberly mimics her action, "What do you mean 'has'?"

Trini chuckles under her breath, "It was moved, but we haven't told him yet."

"Wow," Tommy mutters, taking a sip of his coffee, "You're evil."

"Hey!" Trini calls out, catching Zack's attention, "Don't get crumbs on my book!"

He glares at her then shoves his entire last donut in his mouth.

"When're you gonna tell him?" Kimberly asks, raising an eyebrow.

Trini shrugs, "You know. Eventually."

"Uh-huh."

Trini stands as she finishes her last donut, brushing off crumbs off of her hands and jeans and nudges Kim with her shoe as she walks by, "Can we talk?" She nods over at ravine, secluded, private.

“Uh, yeah, sure,” Kim nods, her stomach briefly turning even though she hasn’t started eating yet. She scrambles to her feet and follows Trini to the edge of the ravine, making sure to take her donuts with her. Zack shoots her a curious look as she passes, but she shrugs it off. Kimberly’s text had dragged all three boys back up top, which mean Kim hadn’t had a moment alone to talk to Zack about her _almost_ kiss with Trini.

Knowing him, he’d probably be transparently gleeful about it.

Hence the need for privacy.

Kim sits and lets her legs dangle over the ravine’s edge, close enough to Trini for them to almost be touching but not enough to be _actually_ touching.

Trini sighs but stays silent, and Kim tears off a piece of one of her donuts, wanting to fill the silence with something, even if it's the crinkling of her bag. She chews and swallows her anxiety into the pit of her stomach.

"There's a lot going on," Trini starts with a soft inhale, "So I just wanted to get this all out there before, I don't know, before a skeleton attacks us or something."

Kim snorts, "A skeleton? More like a fire alarm."

Trini chuckles and shrugs, "Or something."

"Yeah, alright. Shoot."

Trini fidgets with the hem of her beanie, adjusting it on her head, not making eye contact with Kim but rather looking up at the surrounding mountains. Kim respectfully doesn't look at her, either, and focuses on eating her donut until Trini breaks the silence.

"I like you, too," Trini says, slowly, and Kim closes her eyes to save herself from the disorienting wave of dizziness that overcomes her, "Kim?"

"Just let me keep my eyes closed," she murmurs, hating how she can't make her voice any louder than a whisper at the moment, "I'm fine, just…"

A hand slips over hers on the ground. Kim swears under her breath, her heart fluttering at Trini's low chuckle.

"That's not helping," Kim mutters but doesn't pull her hand away.

"Sorry, princess."

"So, what now?" she asks, waiting, aching.

Silence fills the air as the minutes tick by. Kim can't hear anything except the leaves rustling in the wind and rise and fall of Trini's breathing.

She holds hers and keeps her eyes closed, afraid of what she'll see if she opens them.

"I don't wanna rush into things," Trini says, shifting but keeping her hand on top of Kim's, "I-- There's some stuff I have to deal with before… before, I don't know, anything happens with us, I guess. Personal stuff."

Kim's heart sinks, but at the same time, she hates herself for it.

She nods, wishing she could disappear into the void she's looking into, "Okay. Yeah. I get that. You're…"

Trini cuts in, a bit awkwardly, "Kim, look at me. Please."

Kim reluctantly opens her eyes and tenses as Trini moves her hand away.

"I know you like Zack and Jason and Billy, and that's okay," Trini says, "I just… I'm asking if you'd give me some time."

Kim clears her throat, making sure that the words'll come out right before she says them, "Look, that’s okay, take all the time you need." She holds up her pinky, making sure not to use the arm that Jacob thoroughly abused, and gives Trini a small smile, "I promise I'll still be here."

Trini raises an eyebrow, "A pinky promise? Really?"

"You're not cold-hearted, are you?" she teases.

"Pfft, I don't know, I might be," Trini rolls her eyes but relents after a moment and links her pinky with Kim's, and Kim's chest rests easy with the small victory. "Although," she continues, glancing over at the tree where Zack is pretending like he isn't watching them from behind Trini's textbook, "You don't have to still be, you know, _here._ "

It's Kim's turn to raise her eyebrow, "You wouldn't get jealous?"

Trini snorts and pulls her hand away, "As if."

"You wouldn't _mind_?" Kim rephrases, hesitantly.

Trini pauses then leans over a presses a quick kiss to Kim's cheek, almost too quick for Kim to fully register it until Trini is already getting to her feet and brushing imaginary dirt off of her jeans. "Nah," she shrugs, casually, as if she didn't just do _that,_ "I wouldn't mind."

Kim reminds herself not to choke on air as Trini nonchalantly walks away.

 

* * *

 

Trini is pulled aside by Kimberly the moment she rejoins the others. One after another, it seems.

"Hey," Kimberly says, quietly.

"Hey." Trini shoves her hands into her pockets, sensing the air get more serious, as if it wasn't already. She can't tell if it's because her Serious Conversation™ quota has been met for the day (even though, technically, the day's just starting) or if it's because she's tired, but she's not ready for another heavy talk.

Especially because that seems to be a thing with Kimberly.

Maybe Kim, too.

Kimberly wrings her hands together, and Trini checks off a box in her head but says nothing, "I just wanted to say thank you again for last night."

"Don't mention it," Trini says, flatly.

Kimberly pauses, blinks, then nods, "Right. _Literally_ don't mention it."

"Now, you're getting the memo."

"Cool, cool, cool." She seems to mull over her thoughts for a moment then holds up her pinky. "Promise I won't ruin your bad reputation," Kimberly jokes with a smile and wink.

Baffled, Trini glances over at where Kim is chatting with Zack and splitting a donut with him then back at Kimberly. "This is getting weird," she mutters, even as she begrudgingly seals the promise.

"What?"

"Nothing," Trini quickly says as she scuffs the bottom of her shoe against the ground and glances at Tommy, who's packing up the coffee et cetera, "Looks like it's time for us to go."

"Yeah," Kimberly murmurs, clearly off-put by the, uh, awkwardness, "I'll go get Kim and Zack."

"Yeah, you go do that."

 

* * *

 

Kimberly and Tommy drop them all off at their own houses, and Trini, against what's probably her best judgement, agrees to be picked up by Kim, which gives her about half an hour to shower and get ready. She turns the key to her front door and steps inside, immediately freezing at the sight of her parents and brothers at the dining table having breakfast.

"Uh," she fumbles, "Morning…?"

June scrapes her chair against the floor as she gets up; Trini winces, bracing herself for the barrage as her mom stomps toward her.

"You had us _worried--_ We, we didn't know you were at a friend's-- Something could have _happened_ to you, Trini--"

She feels a Full Name Callout™ coming, so she abruptly cuts in before her mom gets the barrel rolling. "Mom-- _Mom,_ I can explain," Trini says, a bit weakly. Saying everything over the phone while her mom had been freaking the hell out hadn't been easy, and trying to pull that same lie on her mom in person… would be a bit harder.

June stops, and for a moment, Trini wonders if her mom's tranquil fury is the last thing she's ever gonna see.

Then, her mom yanks her into a hug.

"I'm so glad you're okay," June manages to sob, muffled into Trini's jacket.

Letting out a choked noise of surprise, Trini freezes, unsure of what to do, "Um." She catches her dad's gaze over her mom's shoulder. He makes a patting motion.

She awkwardly pats her mom on the back. "I'm… glad I'm okay, too?"

_Wow, I'm horrible at this._

Her mom pulls away first, and Trini lets out a soft, almost inaudible, sigh of relief. "I, uh, I gotta get ready for school," she murmurs, jerking her thumb at the stairs.

"Do you need a ride?" her dad asks.

Trini shakes her head quickly, "No, I'm good. Kim's picking me up."  She starts to make a beeline for the stairs before her mom can break down into tears or worse.

"Oh, also, you're grounded," June calls over her shoulder, surprisingly calmly, as Trini's foot hits the first step.

Worse.

One of her brothers "Oooooh"s. Trini rolls her eyes, turning around to face her mom, a snarky retort on the tip of her tongue, but stops at the sight of her mom just standing there in the middle of their dining room.

She sighs, "Yeah, okay."

"Two weeks."

"Alright."

"Home and school, and that's it," June continues, quietly, "And if you need to go to the library or someone else's house to work on a project, you ask both me _and_ your father."

She almost snaps back that she _gets_ it but holds the outburst underneath her tongue. "I understand," she says, nodding instead.

June goes back to the dining table, so Trini takes that as her cue of being dismissed.

Taking the steps two at a time, she jogs up to her room, closing the door behind her but not locking it. Trini goes to her wardrobe, shuffling through the clothes she has hung in there. Today feels like a flannel day.

She checks.

Kim still has her favorite one.

Trini almost reaches for her pocket to text Kim and ask if she’d washed it yet, but then she remembers. Phone. Trash. Lying.

Right.

Her hand is pulling a t-shirt off of its hanger when there’s a soft knock on her door. She goes over and opens it a crack, peering through.

“Hey,” her dad greets.

“Hi. Did you need something?”

He shakes his head, “No, I just wanted to say thanks for not, uh, getting your mom all riled up.”

Trini nods, slightly, “Yeah. Figured it wasn’t worth it.”

“We’ve been through a lot these past couple of weeks,” he agrees, “So, I’m glad you’re alright after last night.” He gives her a small smile then heads back downstairs.

Trini closes the door as he leaves and glances down at the Harwood County High t-shirt in her hand. “Yeah, we _have_ been through a lot,” she echoes. Walking past her wardrobe, she hangs the shirt back up and shoves it to the back, opting instead for one of her lesser-favorite flannels.

Hm.

Maybe green.

 

* * *

 

Hair still drying as she gets into the passenger side of Kim's BMW, Trini throws her backpack on the floor and adjusts the seat, sliding it forward a couple of inches before she puts her seatbelt on. Kim notices, holding back a snicker, and Trini rolls her eyes.

"Billy's got long legs," Kim states.

"Shut up."

Kim starts the car and pulls away from the curb, glancing at Trini's shirt, "No yellow today?"

"There's yellow."

"It's mostly green."

"They're yellow accents," Trini huffs.

Kim raises an eyebrow as she turns out of the neighborhood, "Oh, so, now you're the Yellow-Accented Ranger?"

Trini rolls her eyes yet again and crosses her arms haughtily over her chest. "I wanted to wear some flannel today," she mutters, indignantly.

Kim snorts, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel, "And you expect me to believe that you only have _one_ yellow flannel shirt?"

"You have one," Trini counters, "And the others are in the laundry."

"Right, uh, I'm working on that," Kim murmurs, apologetically, scrunching her nose in a really adorable--

Nope.

Trini waves her hand, "Nah, you're fine. Just eventually, you know?"

"Alright, sure, in ten years."

"That's a bit too long, princess," she shakes her head.

They reach a stop sign, and Kim reaches for the aux cord, holding it out to Trini, "Wanna play something?"

Trini sighs and grabs the aux cord, waving it uselessly in the air, "That'd be a great idea if I had a _phone._ "

"Oh!" Kim laughs, grinning widely, "Right. Forgot about that. You regretting that decision?"

Trini frowns, "I try not to have regrets, so no, not really. But it's inconvenient so far."

Kim keeps smiling, and Trini finds that it's a little contagious, biting back one of her own, "That's okay, you can use mine." She pulls her phone out of her pocket and hands it to Trini, turning the wheel at the same time with her free hand in a way that makes Trini slightly anxious.

Trini takes the phone and taps it, the locked screen flashing on, "Password?"

"Magic word?" Kim teases.

"Really?" She types in a string of zeros, just for fun, and the phone vibrates with an error message. Well, that would've been _too_ easy, and then she would've had to give Kim the talk about how some phones with dumb passwords just don't deserve to be protected.

"You shouldn't be so mean to me, I'm driving us to school," Kim mutters, pouting.

Trini pretends like she doesn't notice and rolls her eyes. "Please," she says, flatly, while typing in Kim's birthday.

Another error message.

She tries her own birthday and holds her breath.

Error.

_Oh, thank God. That would've been… awkward._

"Try the day we became Rangers," Kim offers, a fond smile on her lips.

It takes no less than a second to remember the date, and she types in _0828,_ nodding to herself when the screen unlocks. Kim's home screen background is the selfie the Rangers had taken last week when they went to go see Suicide Squad. Billy's smile is the brightest and first she sees -- mostly because he's the one with the longest arms. Optimal for group-selfie-taking.

Trini had been shoved to the front -- where the shortest people usually stand, much to her chagrin when Jason had pointed that out.

"I have Spotify Premium," Kim comments.

"Of course, you do," Trini murmurs as she opens up the Spotify app and plugs the aux cord into the headphone jack. There's a bunch of playlists that she doesn't really want to scroll through because it feels a bit weirdly intimate to look at Kim's different music moods, so she clicks on _Songs_ instead and presses play.

Trini drops the phone into one of the cupholders a little too loudly and intentionally as the first note of _Girls Like Girls_ comes out of the car's speakers. She kinda wants to skip it since it's way too soon after their talk, but she also doesn't want to make things awkward.

Would it count as also making things awkward if she's actively trying to _not_ make things awkward, though?

Kim doesn't notice Trini's hesitance and bops her head along to the song, acting out her own jam session, " _Saw your face, heard your name, gotta get with you._ "

Trini presses herself into her seat as much as she can without sinking to the floor.

Thankfully, they get to a main road soon enough and are swallowed up by the morning commute traffic, so Kim is busy keeping her eyes on the road. It gives Trini many, many opportunities to watch her sing without worrying about Kim looking at her for too long.

Try as she might, though, Trini can't resist good music, so she sings under her breath, " _Don't tell me, tell me what I feel--_ "

Kim takes that exact moment to glance over at her and grin at her lips moving and nods encouragingly, " _I'm real, and I don't feel like boys._ "

Oh, God.

She's not going to survive another twenty minutes of this.

Trini shuts up immediately and crosses her arms, wishing that she'd grabbed a beanie from her wardrobe so she could pull it over her eyes right about now.

The brief instrumental solo hits right when Kim slows down for a stoplight, and Trini's stomach turns, knowing what's coming. Kim falls silent, no longer singing or tapping her fingers on steering wheel anymore. Trini shifts in her seat, desperately considering opening the door and running away right then, but she forces herself to stay put.

God, how long is this red light?

Hayley Kiyoko's voice keeps drifting out of the speakers.

_"Isn't this why we came?"_

She glances at Kim. They lock eyes.

_"Tell me if you feel it, too."_

Trini swallows, suddenly nauseous.

The car behind Kim's blares their horn at her, and both girls jump in their seats, quickly looking away.

"The light's green," Trini comments, uselessly.

"Right," Kim says, nodding to herself.

They drive the rest of the way with Kim's music still playing in the background, but neither of them sing along.

 

* * *

 

Trini's hand is already on the door handle before Kim fully pulls into an empty parking spot. She almost immediately hops out once Kim straightens out her parking, but the growl of an approaching vehicle stops her. A black motorcycle zooms down the row and sharply turns into the space where Trini would've been standing and parks, too neatly to have been the first time the rider had sped into the student lot.

Kim scoffs beside her, amused, "Show-off."

When Trini's sure it's safe to get out, she scrambles out of the car without saying a word in response to Kim. The biker removes her helmet and fixes her long, blonde hair. Trini recognizes her as Emily Jordan, one of the people who’d been in both Kim and Jason’s social groups from the past year before, well, before they’d both gotten themselves kicked out of those.

Emily nods and smiles at her and Kim, who returns the greeting.

Trini just mumbles under her breath.

Jason’s truck rolls by, thankfully cutting off any more interaction, and his driver’s side window rolls down as he pokes his head out, frowning at Emily. “I was gonna take that spot,” he pouts.

Zack and Billy wave through the backseat window at Trini, who finds that she has about as much enthusiasm in the morning as a rock. She doesn’t wave back.

Emily glances around at the now-filled row and laughs, “You snooze, you lose, Jay. Gonna have to go to the back.”

“It should be illegal that your bike takes up an entire space,” he grumbles, driving away to find another spot further back in the lot.

Emily waves a goodbye at them then walks off towards the gym side entrance, lugging two backpacks on her shoulders.

“Wanna wait for the boys?” Kim asks.

“Sure,” Trini responds, noncommittally, leaning against Kim’s car.

“Do you know her?”

Trini follows Kim’s eyes to Emily’s motorcycle and shakes her head. She doesn’t ask for it, but Kim takes her answer as an invitation to keep talking.

It makes sense that Kim rambles to fill the silence when she’s anxious. Trini does the opposite, though.

“She’s captain for varsity soccer. Her dad’s the coach for varsity football, so she and Jason kinda know each other. I don’t think they really hung out before we all became Rangers, though,” Kim shrugs, not really looking at Trini as she speaks, “Like they knew each other, but he was too cool to really hang out with anyone else ‘cept the football guys.”

“That’s stupid,” Trini mutters, “I don’t see the football team anywhere, do you?”

Kim chuckles, “Nope, just us screw-ups.”

Against the faint buzzing in the back of her mind, she asks, curiously, hoping her voice is audible because she can hardly hear it in her ears, “How do you know her?”

“Uh,” Kim tucks some strands of hair behind her ears, “We were friends kinda during sophomore year. I made it onto JV cheer, so I wasn’t, like, you know, super popular. And Emily was… really nice.” She punctuates the last part with a hesitant sigh, and Trini raises her eyebrows, intrigued, even as discomfort creeps into the pit of her stomach.

“Really _nice,_ was she?” Trini comments, her mouth going dry.

“Yeah.” Kim clears her throat. The sounds of Jason, Billy, and Zack talking cut the conversation short, and the boys weave between a row of parked cars to get to them.

“There’s no parking ‘til the seventh row,” Jason grumbles, pouting at Kim’s giggle, “Shut up.”

The five of them go into the gym side entrance, easily mingling with the other students hanging around before first period starts. Trini keeps away from Kim, though, and when she sees the opportunity, says something about going to the restroom and disappears into the girls’ restroom next to the gym.

Inside, the restroom is silent, although she can vaguely hear the sound of basketball practice going on in the gym through the walls. Trini checks that all of the stalls are empty then tosses her bag on the floor and leans against the far wall, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. She really wishes she could fast forward to the end of this, even though she doesn't know what the end is… much less what "this" is. There's too much going on, and if she thinks about any one thing for too long, it starts to feel overwhelming.

Hell, she might even kill to be back in Harwood right now. Everything was much easier before Trini knew what it felt like to be on the other side of the glass, being a Ranger instead of watching them save the world.

Footsteps distantly sound out, coming closer and then into the entrance of the restroom, and Trini hastily pats her pockets down for her phone to act like she isn't freaking out in the middle of the girls' restroom. She grumbles the moment it occurs to her that she still doesn't have a phone.

The door creaks as it swings open and then Emily walks in, backpack over her shoulder, and Trini sighs to herself. Just her luck.

"Oh, hi, again."

"… Hey.”

The sound of running water fills the air as Emily just washes her hands at one of the sinks and fixes her hair. Trini tries not to look at her, but without her phone, it's hard to really find anything else to look at in a restroom.

 _God,_ her mom was right. She _is_ always on her phone.

"Uh, hey, wait," she clears her throat, just as Emily's making to leave, and gestures at the watch on her wrist, "My phone's dead. D'you know what time it is?"

"Yeah, sure," Emily pauses as she glances at her watch, "It's 7:03."

"Cool. Thanks."

Emily leaves, and Trini lets her head thump back against the wall. Twenty-two minutes until the first warning bell rings for class. She could do that. She could just wait it out in here for twenty-two more minutes.

 

* * *

 

Kim sits next to Zack, her knee brushing against his under the table. Across from them, Billy and Jason are completely and thankfully oblivious. Around them, the cafeteria is bustling with noise and bodies as more kids come in from the bus entrance.

She pointedly notices Trini's absence at the table and had chosen not to latch onto it -- or _tried_ not to latch onto it -- when Trini had excused herself to go to the restroom minutes ago. _She's just going to the restroom, Kim,_ she thinks to herself, _Don't overthink it._

Kim cuts the waffle on her plate into pieces and munches on one, frowning to herself. But, a faint nagging tugs at the back of her mind, like there’s something she’s missing. It buzzes, brushing against her consciousness, like static on a radio station or…

She has a hard time swallowing past the dryness in her throat. Kim knows what her anxiety feels like, and this isn’t it. And if this isn’t it, then… Slowly, she glances at the boys, checking their faces for anything off. Zack raises an eyebrow at her when she looks at him, but besides that, his eager scarfing down of two bacon slices at the same time is absolutely normal. Billy multitasks, scrolling through his phone while he eats, and Jason’s totally engrossed in his phone, not even touching his breakfast burrito.

“I’ve gotta go,” Jason abruptly announces, shoving his phone into his pocket and putting his bag on.

“Go? Where?” Kim asks.

“Uh, tutoring," he says, getting out of his seat.

"Don't forget your--" Billy starts.

Jason grabs his unwrapped burrito and waves them goodbye, "Yep. Got it."

Then, he's gone, and Kim blinks, staring after his retreating form. But, the feeling in her head won't go away and doesn't dull in the slightest, even as Jason walks directly into C hall and disappears from sight.

It worries her so much that she can’t help but blurt it out, “Trini’s taking a long time, huh?”

_Could’ve been smoother, Hart._

Billy shrugs, finishing off the rest of his food and putting his plastic fork down, “She said she was going to the restroom.”

“Yeah, but,” she bites down on her lower lip, “She was quiet in the car earlier. Like… quieter than usual.”

“You think she's not doing okay?” Zack asks, raising an eyebrow.

“I don’t know,” Kim mumbles with a sigh, shaking her head, “I mean… she’s probably fine, and it’s probably nothing.”

“Why don’t you go check on her?” Billy suggests.

Kim frowns, wringing her hands together, “I don’t know if that’s the best idea…”

His brow furrows, “Are you two fighting or something? You haven’t been close the past couple of days.”

Zack coughs beside her, and she lightly kicks him in the shin without looking away from Billy.

“I-I… no, Billy, we’re not fighting,” she says, slowly, not really sure what to call what the car thing earlier was, “I just don’t think I should be the person to go check up on her.”

Billy pauses for a moment, glances down at his finished plate, and nods to himself, “Okay. I’ll go, then.” He grabs his plate in one hand and his backpack from the floor in another and nods a goodbye to Kim and Zack, “I’ll let you guys know if I find her.”

Kim gives him a small, appreciative smile as he goes, “Thanks, Billy.”

Once he’s gone, Zack turns to her. “Okay, what _gives,_ huh?” he demands, raising his eyebrows and throwing his hands up, “You told me earlier that you guys were good! I saw her kiss you on the cheek and everything! Can you guys not sit in a car for thirty minutes without miscommunicating yourselves into another mess? Come _on!_ ”

Kim frowns, ducking her head as she flushes red with embarrassment. That wasn’t _far_ from the truth. “Well, no, I mean, yes…? Wait. I don’t know.” She sighs and frustratedly runs a hand through her hair, “Trini just got all quiet after Emily parked next to us, and I said something.”

“The blonde biker girl?”

“Yeah, her.”

Zack looks at her, expectantly, “Well, what’d you say?”

Kim shrugs, fumbling with her words, “I-I-I don’t know? I just said she was nice, but like, kinda in a tone?”

“A _tone?_ Everything is in a tone, Kim, you’re gonna have to be more specific than that.”

“Like, I don’t know, a tone that implied we had a history or whatever. Kinda.” She falls silent, hoping that’s the end of it, but Zack keeps looking at her, waiting, and she huffs, “I may or may not have asked her out sophomore year.”

Zack lets out a low whistle, “Taking initiative. I approve.”

“Shut up.”

“So, she said yes--"

“ _No,_ Zack,” Kim shakes her head, “She said no.”

He blinks in surprise, “Someone said no to you, and you _didn’t_ freeze them to put on display in your ice castle?”

“Very funny,” she rolls her eyes, “Emily had just moved here, so she told me she wasn’t, you know, ready for a relationship.”

“And that’s it?”

“Yeah, that’s it. I kinda shot up past her once I made varsity so we didn’t really talk much after that, but I’d still see her around, make chit-chat, stuff like that.”

Zack tilts his head, “You think Trini’s jealous?”

Kim looks away, “I don’t wanna answer that. She already told me she didn’t have a problem with me and you, and I don’t… I don’t wanna be the cause of her hurting, if that’s the case.”

“Over an offhand comment? I feel like Trini can handle that,” Zack shrugs, “I mean, maybe it’s something else. She did ‘lose’ her phone this morning and yesterday was rough, so you know, maybe she’s stressed.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Kim puts her head in her hands and sighs, trying to mentally distance herself from the buzzing in the back of her head, “I just hope she’s okay.”

 

* * *

 

Pausing at the slightly-ajar door to her dad's classroom, Emily peeks in through the little window, hesitant. She can hear voices inside, so maybe he's busy doing some morning tutoring.

She pulls back instantly, though, upon spotting Jason standing in front of her dad's desk, and presses herself against the wall, brow creasing. Jason wasn't one of her dad's students-- Maybe he was thinking about getting back on the team?

She leans closer to the crack of the door, trying to listen but not risking another peek, lest her dad spots her.

"Have you talked to your parents about this?"

"Uh, no, not really," Jason's voice is unsteady, not something she's ever really heard from him before, "I don't really, um, know how to… start the conversation, I guess."

Edward's voice takes on a stern but gentle edge -- one Emily knows much too well. It's a step below his parentally patronizing tone. "Jason, I'd be glad to help you out, but only if your parents are absolutely against it first. I'm not willing to go behind Sam's back until all other options have been exhausted."

Jason sighs, heavily, and Emily imagines him nodding in resignation, "Yeah, right, I understand."

"Alright, then. I'll see you around. Take care of yourself."

"Thanks. You too, Coach."

Emily takes a big step away from the door and tries her best to look as inconspicuous as possible, glancing at her shoes as the door swings wide open, narrowly missing her head. Well, if it would've hit, then it wouldn't really be anyone's fault but her own, right?

"Oh, hey," Jason pauses, giving her an odd look, "Were you waiting? Did you knock?"

"Uh, no, no, I didn't," Emily clears her throat, "I glanced inside and saw you were with my dad, so I just stood out here. Waited."

"Oh, okay," he seems to take that as a good enough answer, thankfully, already re-focused on unwrapping a breakfast burrito in his hands, "See you in class, then."

"Yeah, see you," she rubs the back of her neck and waits until his footsteps are far enough away to go inside Edward's classroom.

Her dad doesn't look away from his computer as she comes in, but she's still in his peripheral line of sight. Which gives way for his _actual_ patronizing tone: "It's not polite to eavesdrop."

Shit.

She sighs, her shoulders sagging, and opens her mouth, uselessly, "I… didn't mean to?"

He looks unconvinced.

"Erm, is… Jason doing okay?" she asks, slowly, testing the waters with her toes.

"He's fine," Edward answers, easily, shaking his head at her, "It's not your business, Em."

"I-- yeah, I know--" she sputters then gives up on trying to make an excuse, "Fine."

Her dad finally looks away from his computer and at her, "Was there something else you needed?"

Emily blinks and walks to his desk, reaching into her bag, pulling out a USB cable and brick, "Um, yeah, you left your charger at home."

"Mm, thanks." He takes it and tosses it into one of his desk drawers, giving her a stern glance, "No more lurking outside of classrooms, okay?"

She flashes him a cheeky smile, "Don't have to tell me twice."

"Apparently, I do."

 

* * *

 

Trini was not okay.

That’s the first thing Billy could tell, walking into the girls’ restroom near the gym. He pushes the door open with a loud creak that has Trini glancing up from the corner across the room. She sits with her knees to her chest, back pressed against the wall.

“Billy?”

He waves, meekly, “Hi.”

Trini blinks and fixes him with a confused stare, “What’re you doing in here?”

"I wanted to see if you were okay," Billy says, fiddling with the straps of his backpack, "See if you needed any company."

"Yeah, I'm fine," she says, a little too quickly.

He can tell she's lying and frowns, but he shrugs, anyway, and nods. "Okay," he concedes, turning to leave, deliberately turning around slowly so that she can stop him if she changes her mind.

She does.

"Billy, wait." Trini lets out a heavy sigh as Billy turns back around, looking at her, expectantly. "I don't wanna talk about it," she says, firmly, not leaving any room for any alternate suggestion. Her terms and conditions.

"Okay."

She glances at the door a bit hesitantly, "What if someone comes in?"

"Um," he furrows his brow and thinks for a second, "I can… put a sign on the door? I have notebook paper and tape in my backpack."

That gets a chuckle out of Trini, however brief, and she rolls her eyes, "Wow, putting up a fake sign? You're such a troublemaker, now, Billy."

"I'll take it down when we leave, of course."

"Of course."

He pulls his phone out and shoots off a quick text to Kim.

_[BC 7:11 AM] I found Trini. She's okay._

"Okay," he says, putting his phone away and going over and setting his backpack down next to her, "Time to make this restroom 'Out of Order'." He gives her a smile, chuckling a bit.

She smiles back, reluctantly, after a moment.

 

* * *

 

For the entirety of first period, Kim avoids Mr. Jordan's eyes every time he passes her desk during the lecture of the day. Which is really easier said than done, considering how she sits in the smack-dab front row.

_Curse my overachieving tendencies._

The bell to end class doesn't come quick enough, and she rushes out as fast as she can, slinging her bag over her shoulder.

"If anyone has their paper for me, you can turn it in early!" follows her out the door, and she grumbles to herself, knowing full well that she probably won't be working on it until, like, Sunday.

Yeah, no, definitely Sunday. _And_ she'll probably have to ask Billy for help -- and company, of course.

Kim leaves C hall and crosses over to B hall, easily avoiding students heading the other way with a practiced agility and grace that, well, has been practiced. School's different without people moving out of the way _for_ her, but then again, not having the other cheerleaders in a flock around her feels like a really, really good weight has been lifted off of her shoulders.

She enters her Sociology classroom with a handful of time before the warning and tardy bells ring and finds almost nobody in the room yet, save for Mr. Walker and a few students. One of which is Zack.

Zack nods at her from his seat in the back. He's sitting in an empty row, and Kim knows for a fact that nobody ever sits at the way back table with him. She glances at the front row, where some kids are already sitting with their notebooks out, ready for class, and her usual seat that she's always been particular about claiming because it gives her a good view of the projector screen…

Then strides purposefully to the back of the room.

Zack's cocky grin follows her the entire way and only widens when she approaches the empty chair next to him.

"Yes?" he asks, still smiling like an idiot.

Kim rolls her eyes, letting a hand drop down to the back of the chair. God, it's a good thing he's so cute. "Is anyone sitting here?" she asks, faking a sweetly innocent tone.

"Nope," he shakes his head and pops the 'p'.

She pulls the chair out and drops into it, tossing her bag onto the floor, matching his smug grin with one of her own.

Zack raises an eyebrow and crosses his arms, "Uh, did I _say_ you could sit there, though?"

Kim laughs and leans in as the warning bell rings over the speakers, putting on her best -- truly, her _best_ because she's got many -- sultry tone, "Oh, _please,_ I sit where I want." She reaches over and squeezes his thigh for good measure, and he pouts.

"I hate you."

After the rest of the class comes in and the tardy bell rings, Kim settles into her seat and lazily takes notes when the lecture starts. She could be doing it _diligently,_ but her left hand is in Zack's right underneath the table and it's affecting her ability to write fast.

Not write at all, of course, since she's right-handed, but using her chin to keep her notebook from sliding around the table isn't working out as well as she imagines it in her head.

"You know," Zack leans over and whispers, "I could let go." He's not taking notes whatsoever.

"I'll kill you if you do," she mutters back, completely serious.

"Wow, okay."

She hits the end of the page she's on and frowns, needing to turn to the next blank page, but only having one hand. Which means she has to put her pen down and then flip the page, and, God, maybe she should let go--

Zack reaches over with his free hand and flips the page for her.

"Aw, babe, thanks," she says, instinctively.

He grins, and she regrets it, immediately, scowling.

"You called me 'babe'," he points out with a shit-eating grin.

"I'll crush your hand," Kim threatens, going back to her notes.

Zack leans back in his seat and makes a noncommittal noise that sounds like he doesn't quite believe her, but Kim doesn't have the energy to follow through on the threat.

Plus, he just started rubbing his thumb against the back of her hand and she just fucking _can't._

 

* * *

 

They walk out of Sociology still holding hands, and Kim pauses for a moment, glancing down at their interlocked fingers and back at the hallway full of students.

Zack senses her hesitance and quirks an eyebrow, "I can let go, if you want?"

Right. They're not, like, official yet or anything.

But, then again, when did the new Kimberly Hart -- Kimberly Hart the _Power Ranger_ \-- ever care about stupid shit like being "official"?

"I'll kill you if you do," she repeats, calmly, "But… where are we going?"

"Your class, duh," he practically has to drag her from her rooted spot before she gets run over by a string of students, "I'm nothing but a gentleman."

She chuckles and shakes her head, joking, "Keep this up, and I might actually start believing you on that front."

"Oh, come on," Zack bumps her shoulder with his own, "I'm full of surprises."

_Yes, yes, he is._

Kim catches someone doing a double take at them and ducks her head, bashfully. "Bet someone's gonna ask us if we're dating by lunch," she mumbles.

Zack snorts but smiles at her, "Yeah, 'course, how did Kimberly Hart get her hands on such a gorgeous _stud_ like the one and only Zack Taylor?"

"You ruined it."

It's only when they leave B hall and join the crowds of mingling students in the main hallway and turn towards D hall that Kim realizes what class she has next, and her heart sinks a fraction. She frowns, and Zack chooses that moment to glance at her.

"What's wrong?"

"Biology," she says, simply.

"Yeah… that's what you have next, right?" he asks, momentarily halting in case he somehow got what he knew of her schedule wrong.

"Biology with _Trini,_ " Kim states with a huff.

He tugs on her hand, and they resume walking. "Oh, come _on,_ you told me that she said she wouldn't mind," he says, pointedly.

"Well, yeah," she sputters, "But, maybe she was… lying! People do that, sometimes, you know."

"Yeah, but _why_ would she do that?"

She shrugs, helplessly, "I don't know? I'm just… thinking of all my options here."

"They're all pretty negative options," Zack suggests, "Maybe she was just in a bad mood earlier, and _maybe,_ hear me out, you shouldn't be such a pessimist because not everything is your fault. Groundbreaking, right?"

Kim glares at him as they enter D hall and stop in front of her classroom.

"We could always ask her," Zack says.

She gives him an incredulous look, "What? _No!_ "

"Well, she's coming either way, so," Zack nods to somewhere over Kim's shoulder, and Kim immediately yanks her hand away from his, shoving her hands into her pockets as fast as she can.

"That's not very nice," Zack whispers, pouting at her.

She sticks her tongue out at him, not knowing how else to respond.

Trini just fucking _appears_ next to them, causing Kim to visibly flinch. "What's not very nice?" she asks in a bored tone that suggests she might not actually care.

"Kim," Zack says, nodding, "She's mean."

"Shut up."

"See?" he gestures at her with the hand she was just holding a mere few seconds ago, "She's telling me to shut up."

Trini glances between them and shrugs, "I mean, I'm sure you deserved it."

He gapes at her, "Rude."

Kim shakes her head and pauses, wondering if she should _actually_ say goodbye like she wants to with Trini there, now, then buries the thought in bottom of her mind because giving Zack a kiss on the cheek right in front of Trini would be good enough to mortify Kim to death.

"See you later," she nods at him then brushes past him and goes into the classroom.

 

* * *

 

When Kim's in the classroom and out of earshot, Zack holds out a hand and stops Trini as she's about to follow Kim in.

"Hold up."

She glares at him as the warning bell rings, "What? You're gonna be late."

He shakes his head, "I don't care. I need to talk to you about Kim."

The way she tenses when he says Kim's name is immediately noticeable, even if she tries to cover it up by crossing her arms and continuing to casually glare daggers at him in the way that only Trini could.

"You should try not looking so grumpy all the time," he suggests with a cheeky grin.

"Hard pass," she scowls even harder, if possible, "Hurry up, what about Kim?"

Zack rubs the back of his neck, taking a second to collect his thoughts. It'd been a little… well, kinda hurtful when Kim had just let go of his hand like that, but he's already over it. She's going through a lot, and apparently, being absolutely terrible at liking a girl is on that list as well.

"She's worried that you… mind, you know, her liking me or, like, me and her," he says, finally, sighing.

Trini raises an eyebrow then shrugs, so casually that Zack wonders if she even had to think about or process her answer, "Nah. I don't."

"No? 'Cause she said you were just, I don't know, kinda quiet in the car with her or whatever, and Billy went to check up on you earlier, so--"

"I'm fine, it's not about Kim," Trini interrupts, holding up a hand.

Zack nods, "Okay, cool cool cool."

"Go to class," she says, walking past him just as the tardy bell rings.

 

* * *

 

Kim straightens in her seat as the tardy bell rings, and Trini walks into the classroom just in time. The desks have been pushed together in pairs for partner work, and Kim sits at one of the pairs in the back area where Trini normally sits, her stuff already out in front of her. She locks eyes with Trini, kinda hoping the other girl wouldn't blatantly ignore the signal she was sending her.

Also kinda hoping that Trini didn't spend all that time outside of the classroom with Zack talking about how much of a mess Kim was.

Trini strolls over to the other desk next to Kim's with a slow nonchalance that has Kim wanting to bite the end of her pen in anxiety. She doesn't, though.

Trini slumps into her seat, dropping her backpack on the floor, looking at Kim's open textbook sitting on top of their desks, "What's this?"

"Today's just partner work," Kim explains, nodding at the chalkboard where the assigned page numbers are written, "So, I figured you and I could, uh, work together."

"Cool." Trini stares at her for a moment too long, and Kim shifts in her seat, feeling like she's being analyzed. "Zack talked to me," she says, finally.

Oh, no.

"I don't care about you guys being a thing," Trini mutters, sighing exasperatedly, "I already told you that this morning."

Oh, okay.

Kim breathes a sigh of relief that has Trini raising her eyebrows. "I just…" she fumbles, "I don't know, you just seemed off, and I didn't-- I _don't_ wanna hurt you."

"It's not you," she says, simply.

Kim nods, a little reluctantly, "Okay, okay. But… are _you_ okay? Because I thought I felt…" She trails off and makes a motion to her head, referring to their Ranger… bond or whatever.

Trini pauses and gazes at her for a minute then looks down at Kim's textbook. "It's not you," she repeats, calmly, but in a tone that clearly says Kim won't get anything more out of the conversation if she keeps pushing.

"Okay. Got it."

"Besides," Trini says, casually, now copying one of the questions from the textbook into her notebook, "You guys are kinda cute together."

Kim coughs and blushes so hard she feels like she's going to implode.

 

* * *

 

Near the end of third period, Mr. Castillo announces that, for the next two weeks, the focus of the class will be on a group research project -- done in pairs.

“Feel free to spend the last few minutes of class picking your partners and brainstorming ideas on what your project will be over,” Mr. Castillo says, sitting back down at his desk, “That’s all I have for you today. I’ll send the rubric out tonight, so keep an eye on your e-mail and the student portal.”

Jason’s sliding into the vacant seat behind Emily the moment the kid sitting behind her gets up to find a partner.

_Wow, God, desperate much?_

She slowly turns around and raises an eyebrow at him, “How do you know I don’t already have a partner?”

“Because… I’m sitting here,” he shrugs.

“Uh-huh.”

He waits for her to refuse.

Emily rolls her eyes and chuckles, “Fine, Scott, I’ll do you the honour of being your partner.”

Jason smiles, a little bit idiotically, if he were to guess what he looks like from the outside, “Cool.”

The bell to end class rings, and the classroom erupts in louder noise as students start leaving. Jason gets up and quickly goes back to his seat to grab his bag and sling it over his shoulder. He goes back to Emily’s desk and stands off to the side, waiting for her.

“I’m free this evening,” he offers, “If you wanna get together and start brainstorming or whatever.”

"Alright. I’ve got practice after school, though, so I can text you when I’m done. Your place or mine?" Emily asks, shrugging her jacket on and fixing her hair.

"Uh," Jason plays with his bag strap as he weighs the pros and cons of having her over at his house and decides against it, "Yours, I guess. Haven't been in awhile, so that'd be nice."

Emily chuckles and puts her backpack on, letting it hang off of one shoulder, "Yeah, my mum will probably talk you into staying for tea."

"I _guess_ I could stay for dinner," Jason cracks a smile, "But I'm not a big fan of tea."

Emily sighs and rolls her eyes, "You're insufferable."

“Actually,” he follows her as she leaves, “I’ve been told I’m pretty damn charming to be around.”

Emily snorts and rolls her eyes, “Oh, who told you that? Your mum? Doesn’t count.”

“Totally counts,” he mutters, indignantly and proudly.

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that in the mirror.”

 

* * *

 

Kim walks Trini to her next class.

"Are you just walking with me because you wanna see Zack?" Trini abruptly asks after they leave Biology.

Kim trips and stumbles. Trini glances at her and chuckles. "I-- No, I'm not," she mutters, "How _dare_ you? We're _friends._ Can't I enjoy walking my own friends to class?”

“Oh, look, there’s Zack.”

“Where?” Kim whirls around, only to scowl when Trini laughs, a sound that she’d stop and appreciate more if doing so wouldn’t get her run over in the middle of the hallway.

“God, this is so much fun.”

“Why are you like this?”

Trini shrugs, “Because you make it too easy, duh.”

They walk into B hall and go up a flight of stairs to get to Trini’s History class. Kim spots Zack lounging outside the classroom door and smiles to herself, switching to a scowl when Trini fakes a groan, “Gross. Why’re you so hetero?”

“That’s biphobic.”

“Whatever,” Trini nods at Zack as they come up to him then disappears inside the classroom, “Just don’t eat his face off. Or do. You’d be doing me a favor.”

“Hey,” Zack says, smiling at her.

“Hi,” Kim bites her lower lip, finding his smile utterly contagious, and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear.

Wow. She feels like if Kimberly were here right now, she’d be mockingly saying “Ugh, gross” in the same tone Kim always uses on her.

“Uh, sorry, I… let go of your hand earlier,” she mumbles, “I… freaked out.”

Zack scoffs, “No kidding. Your life is kinda a mess.”

“If anyone else said that, I’d be really insulted.”

“But, you aren’t.”

“But, I'm not.”

“Because I’m me?” Zack asks, grinning hopefully.

Kim can’t help but laugh, “Yeah, because you’re you. And because you’re helping me deal with my messy life.”

“Of course,” he says, fondly; her heart skips a beat, “I’m always here for you.”

She smiles and leans up to kiss his cheek, “Thanks. Good luck on your test.”

Zack groans, “Ugh, I’d _almost_ forgotten about it. Thanks a lot.”

“Oh, you’ll do fine, I believe in you,” Kim clears her throat and forces herself to not snicker as she leaves.

 

* * *

 

“Alright, class, for today, since the test was moved, we’ll be looking at-- Yes, Zack?”

Zack lowers his hand and tilts his head in confusion, "Uh, the test was moved?"

Ms. Bhavani pauses and nods, "Yes, I sent out an e-mail this morning around six o'clock or so. Did you not get it?"

"Um," he quickly pulls out his phone and refreshes his mail app, blinking when the e-mail with the subject line _Test Moved to Tuesday_ pops up at the top, "Oh. Uh, I guess I did. Sorry."

"That's okay," Ms. Bhavani smiles, encouragingly, "At least you're already prepared for Tuesday, right?"

“Yep. Totally.”

Bhavani goes back to introducing the lecture of the day, and Zack frowns, glancing a few seats over to where Trini is sitting. A smirk is on her face, but she isn't looking at him. He glares, having a feeling that she can _definitely_ see him in her peripheral vision, and her smirk only grows wider.

 

* * *

 

"Are you _fucking_ kidding me?!" Zack drops his tray loudly down on the table, causing Jason to flinch.

Trini, sitting next to Jason, looks completely unfazed, though, and lazily looks at him, "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" he sits down across from her and next to Kim, frowning, and jabs a finger at Trini, accusatorily, "You know what's _wrong._ "

"Ohhh," Jason chuckles, catching on, "You found out your history test was moved?"

"Yeah!" Zack shakes his head as Trini and Jason share a fist bump. "Wait a second--" He turns to Kim, "Did _you_ know?"

Kim grabs her water bottle and takes a long sip from it, shrugging helplessly.

Zack's eyes widen, "Oh, my God! You wished me good luck!"

She sets her water bottle back down, "Eh, consider it good luck for… next week? Preemptively wishing you good luck."

"That's _not_ how that works!"

Zack desperately glances at Billy, sitting on Jason's left, "Billy, my man, tell me you didn't know."

Billy frowns in sympathy, "Sorry, Zack, I knew, too."

"Come on!" Zack pushes his tray away and buries his head in his hands, "Ugh, I trusted you guys. I feel _so_ betrayed."

Kim rolls her eyes and stands up, grabbing her wallet from her bag. "Stop being so dramatic," she pats him on the back, "I'm gonna go get a soda. Do you want anything?"

"Honesty," comes Zack's muffled reply.

"Mm, they're fresh out. Sorry."

“Then, I don’t want anything.”

She's about to walk away when Jason raises a hand, "Uh, excuse me? Aren't you gonna ask if _we_ want anything?" He gestures between him, Trini, and Billy.

Kim blinks. "Nope."

She walks away to the vending machines against the far wall of the cafeteria. Before she puts any change in, Kim jabs the button for a Dr. Pepper on the soda machine, making sure that it’s still stocked. Damn thing took a dollar-fifty from her last week, only for it to be out of what she wanted.

“Hey, Kim.” Emily walks up beside her and sticks a dollar into the snack machine, “Heard the chatter lately?”

“Mm,” Kim feeds a six quarters into the soda machine and presses the Dr. Pepper button, waiting, “Is it that I’m dating Zack?”

“Are you?”

“Uhhh,” Kim falters, “I don’t know… we, um, haven’t really talked about it.”

“Well, you guys look cute together.” Emily grabs her chip bag from the dispenser and gives Kim a curious look, “I would’ve thought you had a thing going on with Jason, though.”

“Oh, um,” she fakes a chuckle as she gets her soda can. Not entirely wrong, but… “He's not really my type.” _That_ was definitely a lie. Her type was, as it turns out, her teammates. But.

“Really? What’s your type, then?”

Kim nonchalantly shrugs, having the answer ready, “Someone who can keep up with me.” She nods goodbye to Emily then walks back to the Rangers’ table.

"I miss anything?" she asks as she sits down, opening her Dr. Pepper with a satisfying _hiss_ and taking a sip.

"Zack's still being dramatic," Trini mutters, rolling her eyes.

"And, for good reason,” Zack grumbles, grabbing Kim’s soda from her hand and taking a long sip of his own.

“Uh, _excuse_ me,” she pokes him in the side, “You said you didn’t _want_ anything. You can’t just steal some of my soda like that.”

“Yeah, I can,” he mutters, indignantly, keeping it out of her grasp when she reaches for it, “You _betrayed_ me.”

“Oh, my God, stop being such a diva.”

 

* * *

 

They all met up in the parking lot after seventh period to figure out who's driving whom home, and Zack _immediately_ calls shotgun with Kim, no less than a moment after exiting school doors.

"Wow, babe, desperate to hold my hand much?" Kim casually retorts while preoccupied with her phone. She looks up to find three very, very intrigued faces looking back at her, of which Trini isn't one of them.

" _Babe?_ " Jason asks, "Something you wanna tell us, Kim?"

Zack snuggles up next to Kim and wraps an arm around her waist, wiggling his eyebrows, "Oh, yeah, we're getting married, and Trini, you're my best man. Woman. Wingman… person. Best partner."

"Best partner kinda sounds confusing," Billy points out, "Double meanings."

"I'm working on it, Billy."

Kim shoves his arm away and scoffs, "Are you kidding me? If we were getting married, Trini would be _my_ maid of honor."

"Guys, guys, there's an easy way to settle this," Trini chimes in. Everyone looks at her, expectantly, momentarily caught up in the temporary drama. "It's simple," she explains with a straight face, "I would say no to both of you because a wedding with you two would be a collective disaster, and I wouldn't want the responsibility of keeping that mess glued together."

Zack gapes at her while Kim rolls her eyes, "Wow, you're just hell bent on betraying me today, aren't you?"

"Oh, get over it already, you crybaby."

Zack crosses his arms, "I don't talk to traitors."

"Okay," Jason cuts in, holding up a hand, "Are you guys dating? 'Cause someone came up to me earlier asking, and I just figured it was some weird rumor."

"Uh, we'll, um, get back to you on that," Kim says, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, the same time as Zack shrugs, "We've held hands."

Trini snorts, "Wow, holding hands? Congrats. Is she gonna put a Valentine on your desk, too?"

Zack points a finger at her, "This is abuse, I hope you know that."

"Okay, well," Jason motions to the group, "Do any of you guys mind riding with Kim today? Because I've gotta stay behind." He jerks his thumb vaguely over his shoulder in the direction of the school.

Everyone shrugs at each other and nods.

"Alright, cool, I'm gonna take off, then, and, uh, congrats on being… not official?" Jason gives Kim and Zack two uncertain thumbs up as he walks away.

Kim blinks. "Anyone feel like he’s acting weird?" she voices out loud.

"Jason's always weird," Zack says, leading the way to Kim's car.

 

* * *

 

Trini is the last to be dropped off, so she gets out and moves to the passenger seat after Zack leaves. She kinda wants to listen to music, but she's not dumb enough to will a repeat of this morning into existence. Anyway, as far as she can tell, Kim's content enough with driving in silence, so theoretically, Trini should be, too.

But, God, something about knowing that Kim is probably overanalyzing everything in her head right now just makes Trini want to clear the air up…

Curse her tendency to be a good person.

"I got grounded," she states, abruptly, into the silence.

Kim takes a moment to process that she's spoken and glances at her then back at the road, "Oh. For… the attack last night?"

Trini draws her mouth into a thin line and nods, "Yeah." She takes a deep breath and sighs, heavily, "My parents… have a lot to be worried about."

"Like?"

"We've moved around a bit," Trini says, looking out the window at the passing scenery of buildings and cars, "Things have… happened. My mom's right to be so worried about me, especially with it involves rock monsters and space aliens."

She glances at Kim, only to see her jaw clenched. Kim's hands are still loosely holding the steering wheel, not gripping, and her body is mostly relaxed, but her face tells a different story.

Trini decides not to voice aloud the thought that at least her mom cares enough to check up on her during a crisis, even if she didn't answer until hours later. Kim, apparently, is already thinking along the same lines.

Kim takes a moment then asks, "So, you're just bummed about being grounded?"

Trini shrugs, "I mean, I've been grounded before, so it's really whatever. It just got me… thinking about some stuff I've been through, so I've been distracted all day is all."

"Well," Kim says, slowly, looking over at her as they come to a stop sign, "You don't have to, of course, but if you ever wanna talk about some of that stuff, I'd be glad to listen."

"Noted," Trini mumbles, nodding and shifting in her seat, not liking how quickly serious the air got, "Thanks."

"Anything for you," Kim says, softly.

Trini bites the inside of her cheek as she tries not to latch onto those words.

 

* * *

 

Since her parents aren’t usually home by the time school is over (and, especially recently, they’ve been home even later than their usual work hours), Kim’s the one who’s tasked with getting the mail everyday. After she parks her car in the driveway, she goes and checks the mailbox at the curb, opening it to find a small, brown box laying inside on top of some junk mail.

Kim doesn’t think much of the box, figuring it’s one of her parents’, so she grabs everything and heads inside the house. She drops the pile of mail onto the coffee table, noting that yesterday’s pile is well and gone. At least that’s a sign her parents have been home since all the shit going on yesterday, even if she doesn’t catch them anymore.

It’s been a long ass day, considering that she’s somehow powered through without any coffee, even, despite being awake the entire night and morning, and the cafeteria food was, somehow, worse than usual today, so Kim spends a couple of minutes throwing a sandwich together for herself. She plops down on the couch with her plate, eats, and spends a good hour flipping through TV channels and settling on a rerun of _NCIS,_ if only for the tall glass of water that is Ziva David.

When she’s finished eating, Kim goes and sets her plate in the sink before shifting through the mail. Most of it’s junk -- advertisements, coupons to restaurants that the Harts never go to, blah blah blah. There’s a copy of this month’s electric bill, so Kim sets that aside from the pile of junk mail.

She picks up the box, just meaning to glance at if it’s for Mom or Dad, but her face scrunches up in confusion at the name on the box. _Kimberly Hart._

Well, Kim doesn’t remember ordering anything within the past couple of days.

She reads the address, and everything clicks into place.

 _Comfort Inn Suites_  
_Greenfield Avenue_  
Angel Grove, CA 90050

Of course.

Kim pulls out her phone and sends a quick text.

_[KH 4:13 PM] hey are you in your hotel room?_

The reply bings back just as quickly.

_[KO 4:13 PM] Yeah, why?_

_[KO 4:13 PM] Need something?_

_[KH 4:14 PM] your mail got dropped off at my house lmao._

_[KO 4:14 PM] What mail…_

_[KO 4:14 PM] A box???_

_[KO 4:14 PM] Do. Not. Open that box._

She just can’t resist the moment she reads Kimberly’s text.

_[KH 4:15 PM] open the box you said????_

_[KO 4:15 PM] DO NOT._

_[KO 4:15 PM] Your parents won’t recognize your corpse._

_[KH 4:15 PM] when will you stop making empty promises lol?_

_[KH 4:15 PM] i’m heading over with your illegal things._

 

* * *

 

“You know, you didn’t have to wait for me.”

Jason glances up from his phone and squints against the sunlight, seeing Emily make her way up the bleachers to his seat. He shrugs like it’s no problem, which it isn’t. “I wanted to,” he says, “Figured maybe we could go grab a bite to eat, a lil’ something before going over to your place.”

“I’d be down for that,” Emily nods, playing with the hem of her jersey, “What’s on the menu?”

“Something light. Like Starbucks- I mean, the Starbucks on Mariner Bay is closed, so… Java City? Or something.”

“Alright, cool, lemme just hit the locker room, take a quick shower, get dressed, and then we’ll be off, yeah?”

“Sounds good,” Jason smiles to himself as he watches her go, “I’ll just be waiting here.”

 

* * *

 

The door to room 309 opens, and Kim cheekily smiles at Kimberly, who looks like she’s been spending all day in bed, her hair slightly tousled, dressed in one of the hotel’s complimentary robes.

“So, what’s in the box?” she asks, curiously, a bright grin on her face.

Kimberly reaches for it, almost immediately, and Kim steps back, holding it out of Kimberly’s grasp.

“None of your business,” Kimberly mutters, a stern look forming on her features. Kim’s gotten used to it pretty quickly. It’s Kimberly’s Mom Look™.

“Which means it’s something _you_ don’t want me to know about,” Kim says, her smile lighting up more, even if possible. She shakes the box, and the cringe on Kimberly’s face is worth it all; something makes a small thumping sound inside the box as it’s shaken around, “Ooh, sounds like it’s good. What is it?”

Kimberly sighs and crosses her arms but stays silent, frowning.

“Oh, come on, you’re not gonna make me guess, are you? You _know_ I’m bad at guessing. _We’re_ bad at guessing.”

“I’m not bad at guessing,” Kimberly states, rolling her eyes.

“Yes, we are,” Kim counters, ignoring the woman’s second eyeroll, “Is it… something… explicit?”

Silence.

“Oh, my _God,_ is it a sex toy?”

Kimberly actually _blushes,_ and Kim groans, sticking her tongue out in disgust, “Oh, _gross._ ” She practically tosses the box at Kimberly, who catches it easily then cracks up with amused laughter.

“It’s not a sex toy,” Kimberly says between giggles, leaning against the doorway for support, “It’s a gift for Tommy. Although, I can’t believe how well you fall for that stuff.”

“Why didn’t you become an actor so you could live far away from here and stop torturing me?”

Kimberly shrugs, smirking, “It just doesn’t feel like home if I’m not embarrassing you.”

“Shut up,” Kim groans, but she returns Kimberly’s smile with sincerity.

Kimberly opens the door wider and motions for Kim to come in, “I’m totally free if you wanna hang out since you’re already here.”

Kim walks into the hotel room and takes a seat at the kitchen counter, leaning on the countertop with her elbows and propping her chin up in her hands. “You gonna tell me what’s inside the box?”

“Nope,” Kimberly responds, popping the ‘p’ and chuckling, “It’s a surprise.”

Kim snorts, “Uh, yeah, for _Tommy,_ not for me. What’s the occasion?”

“Yeah, but it’d be nicer if everyone else saw it after Tommy, not before him. Kinda defeats the purpose, in my opinion,” Kimberly feels around for an opening in the cracks of the box’s shipping tape and adorably goes “aha!” when she finds one, then proceeds to tear the box open with her bare hands, no boxcutter required.

“Must be that Ranger strength,” Kim teases.

“Oh, you know it. And, as for what it’s for, in a couple of days, it’ll be two years since Tommy proposed to me.”

“Via parachute. Right.”

Kimberly laughs, “What can I say? Being a Ranger just brings all this extra excitement into your life.” She takes the box and goes to hide it, well, somewhere, supposedly somewhere good where Tommy won’t find it, but considering they’re staying in the same hotel room, that’s probably hard.

But, then again, it’s Tommy.

“D’you know anyone else who’d be willing to do a parachute proposal?” Kim calls after her, “‘Cause, if you do, hook a girl up.”

Kimberly reappears, empty-handed. “I don’t know,” she murmurs, smirking, “I’m pretty sure Zack would be up to it. Or maybe even Trini…”

Kim coughs into her hand, her ears heating up, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, please,” Kimberly nudges Kim as she passes around the kitchen island, “I have eyes. And I used to be your age, too, once upon a time.”

“Yeah, like sixty-five million years ago.” She manages not to wilt under Kimberly’s glare and laughs. “Speaking of which, where _is_ Tommy?”

“Running an errand,” Kimberly hums.

“Ah, cool. It would’ve sucked if he was here when I came over.”

“Yep, that would’ve been unfortunate.”

“So, uh,” Kim traces her fingers along the surface of the counter, trying to find a way to phrase her words right, “You’re no stranger to liking your teammates, right? I mean, obviously, you married Tommy.”

“Yeah,” Kimberly raises an eyebrow, “Where’s this going?”

“Um, I don’t know,” Kim shrugs and taps her fingers on the counter, “I just wanted to know if you had any other… experience with that.”

Kimberly laughs and shakes her head, biting her lower lip, “I’d say I probably had a little bit too much experience with that.” At Kim’s blank look, she goes on, “Being a Ranger is… hard. It’s even harder when you wanna live a normal life, but if you’re also keeping your identity a secret…”

“Then, it just flat out sucks,” Kim concludes.

“Well, yeah, kinda. There’s some teams in the past that have had public identities, so it’s different for them, but it wasn’t like that when I was a Ranger.” Kimberly fondly chuckles to herself, “We actually missed a bit of class, having to ditch school to go fight a monster or something.”

“Wow, so rebellious.”

“The ‘90s were a different time, okay?” Kimberly tucks a strand of hair behind her ear then repeats the motion when it won’t stay, “But, yeah, I’ve dated other Rangers before, mostly just people from the same couple of years that I was active. I could’ve, you know, broadened my horizons once more teams started getting added to the family, but…” She sighs, “Things happened, and life got in the way.”

Kim doesn’t have to ask to know what “things” happened.

“Plus, there’s a certain kind of bond you have with your team, you know?”

“Oh, yeah,” Kim nods in full understanding, “I know. I was actually gonna ask you about that…”

“Shoot.”

“How’d you know Tommy was… you know, ‘the one’?” She makes air quotes with her fingers, and Kimberly scoffs a bit.

“I wouldn’t waste your time wondering about that,” Kimberly says, shrugging, “I just know, but… maybe he’s not always ‘the one’, you know? Maybe not in another universe -- or many other universes out there. Maybe there doesn’t always have to be any one person.”

“Maybe it’s a team,” Kim mumbles, not knowing where _that_ came from… but also knowing exactly where it came from.

Kimberly nods in agreement, “Yeah. Or many teams. One big family.”

Kim stifles a yawn behind her hand. It meant to come out as clearing her throat, but her mind is drifting back to how comfortable her couch was about an hour ago and why she didn’t choose to just nap right then.

“Sleepy?” Kimberly asks, raising an amused eyebrow.

“You try being a superhero and staying up all night fighting off a giant monster,” she fully yawns this time, muffling it in her shirt sleeve.

“Oh, believe me, I’ve already had a few cups of coffee. I was just about to make another one, you want some?”

“Mm, hit me.”

Kimberly laughs and goes over to the Keurig sitting in the corner of the kitchen, turning it on with a whir.

Kim keeps her eyes on Kimberly’s back, watching her, “When’d the divorce happen?” There’s a moment where Kimberly pauses as she reaches for a mug in the cabinet, but she resumes motion as fast as she’d stopped.

“I was fourteen,” Kimberly says, with her back to Kim, but Kim doesn’t detect anything strained in her voice, “My brother was about ten, I think? Same story as always. My dad was cheating on my mom, and you know, they started fighting. It was rough for awhile.” Kimberly turns around as the coffee starts being brewed, her eyes meeting Kim’s, “We moved houses across town, and it felt like Dad had just abandoned us.” She wrings her hands together, frowning, “I was worried I wouldn’t ever be able to have a stable home life after that, but… here I am. Granted, it took me a long time, but there were circumstances out of my control.”

“Yeah, here you are,” Kim echoes, giving her a brief smile.

The Keurig finishes brewing, and Kimberly grabs the mug, gently placing it in front of Kim. The aroma is enticing and instantly wakes her up, but Kim’s made way too many mistakes before to know that she should let the coffee sit for a hot (ha) minute before even trying a sip.

“Thanks.”

“No problem,” Kimberly says, softly, “I know it seems hard right now, but you’ll get through this. I’m right here with you.”

 

* * *

 

**Philadelphia, Pennsylvania**

With a strained grunt, Tommie hefts the last box of her things into the back of the moving truck, doing one last check that everything's there and in place. "Whew!" she huffs, takes her foster brother's hand in helping her down from the back of the truck, and jumps down to the ground, straightening her clothes out.

Reece claps her on the back, "You didn't forget anything in there, did you?"

Tommie pats her _empty_ back pockets and sighs, heavily. "My phone," she grumbles.

"What _would_ you do without me?" he calls out as she clambers back into the truck to look for her phone.

"I don't know," she responds, her voice echoing around the walls of the truck, "Die, probably… Can you give me a call?"

She waits for a moment in the silence, then, muffled, from inside the box she'd just set down, comes, _"There's a room in a hotel in New York City…"_

"Ugh, are you kidding me?" she mutters under her breath then calls out to Reece, "Hey, can you get the tape from my room? It should be… on the floor."

Reece chuckles, "Did you leave your phone in the box?"

"Yep."

"Is the box all taped up?"

Tommie huffs, exasperatedly, "Can you just get the tape, _please?_ "

"Yeah, hold on a sec."

She taps her foot as she waits for Reece to reappear and easily catches the roll of packing tape he tosses at her. Tommie sets the tape down on top of another box as she reaches in her pocket for her knife and flicks it open, neatly cutting the box open and setting her knife down. The last of her books sit at the top, and she pushes them aside, blindly fumbling around for her phone. Her fingers brush against it near the bottom of the box, and she fishes it out, triumphantly waving it at Reece, who sarcastically claps.

"Congrats! Now, how many times is this, now?"

"Shut up," Tommie rolls her eyes as she makes sure to tuck her phone into her back pocket and grabs the tape, securing the box once again -- phone-free, this time. She rejoins Reece outside of the truck and makes him hold the roll of tape.

He playfully bops her on the head with it. "Didn't you tell me you actually left your phone in there once?"

Tommie crosses her arms and frowns, "Whatever." She did, actually, but she wasn't about to repeat the story for her own embarrassment -- leaving her phone in one of her suitcases when she moved from Boston to London was, most likely, one of her most regrettable mistakes.

"Alright, everything good?"

She pats her pockets-- Then sighs and looks at Reece. He gives her a cheeky smile.

"Your knife's sitting on the floor."

"Maybe you should get it for me before I forget my entire self in there," she mutters, and he laughs, shrugging and hopping into the back of the truck. Tommie's a little bit tempted to pull the door close for fun, but she doubts she can get there faster than he can slip out.

Reece closes the truck door as he gets out and hands Tommie her knife back, "C'mon, the movers are still in there with Mom. You think there's still any food left?"

She pretends to think about it to stall for time then breaks into a run for the front door, "Race you!"

"Hey, cheater!"

 

* * *

 

"Has Castillo put up the rubric yet?"

Jason glances up from his phone and shakes his head, "Mm, not as far as I can tell. I haven't gotten any notifications yet."

Emily makes a noise of acknowledgement and breaks off another piece of her muffin and chews. Jason reaches over to grab a piece of his own, and she smacks his hand away. "What d'you think you're doing?"

He raises his eyebrows at her, "We're friends, aren't we? Friends share."

She rolls her eyes, "Yeah, sure, but we walked in here, and you _immediately_ started complaining about how Java City isn't as good as Starbucks and that you weren't gonna get anything because you respect and love yourself."

"I do respect and love myself," Jason says, very, very seriously.

"And I'm glad you do," Emily puts up a finger to stop him as he reaches for her muffin again, "But, you decided you wanted to be picky, so."

He fixes her with a stare, "Don't make me use my secret weapon."

Emily snorts and flicks a crumb at him, "Yeah, and what's that?"

"My… handsome good looks and natural athleticism." It sounded better in his head.

"Hm," Emily squints at him then shrugs and breaks off a piece of her muffin and holds it out to him, "For the record, though, Kim's hotter than you, _and_ your leg's messed up."

Jason pouts as he cherishes and munches on the small piece she'd given him, "My leg's fine." Still, he instinctively rubs his right knee out of habit, just talking about it. The truth is, it's not fully healed and sometimes still aches, but only very, very faintly (if he didn't know it existed, he wouldn't notice it, really).

"So, you're not arguing that Kim's hotter than you?"

"No, duh, she's hotter than me," Jason scoffs, “And I was doing pretty good before the accident. I mean, not to brag or anything, but…”

“But, our luck’s run out now that you aren’t on the team,” Emily finishes for him, nodding in agreement. She pauses then tilts her head at him, “Do you ever think about going back?”

He _had,_ but… he hasn’t since becoming a Ranger. “Uh,” he shakes his head and rubs the back of his neck, “I’ve thought about it once or twice, but honestly, that part of my life’s over, Em. I’ve moved on.”

She raises her eyebrows, “Is that why you’re still swinging by my dad’s classroom in the morning? Because he’s not your coach anymore.”

Jason tenses and clenches his jaw. He hadn’t suspected that Emily had overheard anything from his conversation with her dad -- at least, he hadn’t until she mentioned it. “We’re still… close,” he says, not wanting to give anything away by his body language or tone -- which he’s now both ridiculously hyperaware of so he tries to keep his exact posture from right before he became aware, “He booted me, but you know, it’s not like I have a grudge against him or anything. He just did what he had to do.”

Chewing thoughtfully, Emily breaks off another chunk of her muffin and gives it to Jason, like an offering to keep him talking. He’s not mean or cold enough to really mind the bribery. “What about the guys? D’you still talk to any of them?”

The first names that come to mind are Damo and Hawkeye, but since the night of their _group_ Senior Prank, he hasn’t said a word to them. Sees them in the hallway a lot, but he doesn’t look at them and they don’t look at him.

“No,” he says, flatly, “But I haven’t really seen Caboose around.”

“Beck?” At Jason’s confirming nod, Emily gazes at him for a long moment, and he shifts in his seat, “He’s been pretty busy this semester. Is he the only one you’d wanna talk to?”

Jason fakes a frown and glances around, gesturing with his hand in a sweeping motion, “I don’t see anyone else eager to rub elbows with me after I royally fucked everything up. Do you? There was a giant gold monster in town two weeks ago, and _still,_ Marty looks at me like I ran over his dog every time I walk into Precal now.”

“What about David or Clint-- you know, Hawkeye? Thought you were close with them,” she pauses then continues, “Okay, I just never asked ‘cause I never thought to, but what’s with the nicknames? Like, almost everyone on the team has one, and it’s kinda hard to keep track of ‘cause my dad just calls you guys by your actual names while everyone else… doesn’t.”

He purses his lips and decides to just skip over talking about Damo and Hawkeye, hoping she’d get the hint, “It’s just a dumb thing we came up with when we were all in JV and we wanted the guys in varsity to think we were, you know, worthy or whatever. Cool enough.”

Emily chuckles and raises her eyebrows in interest, “Okay. What was yours, then? I feel like everyone still calls you by your name.”

Jason is silent for a minute, staring down at his hand as he traces a random pattern of lines onto the surface of the table with his thumb.

“Golden boy,” he says, quietly.

 

* * *

 

Kim takes a sip of her coffee and looks at Kimberly, "Are you and your brother close?" She's always wondered what _not_ being an only child was like, but she can't imagine herself having a younger brother, now. Technically, Zack and Billy _could_ count since they're a couple months younger than her, but… that's weird.

Kimberly frowns, and immediately, Kim backtracks to save herself. "Oh, um, you don't have to answer that--"

"No, it's okay," Kimberly sighs and runs a hand through her hair, "We were close enough, I guess, when we were kids, and then, after the divorce…" She shrugs and drops her hands down to her side, looking achingly defeated.

Kim swallows and awkwardly looks away, not quite wanting to see Kimberly look so… vulnerable. It feels wrong, somehow.

But, Kimberly continues, despite the fact that Kim is very intensely studying the hotel room wallpaper now, "My mom remarried and ended up moving to France with my stepdad, and my brother went with them. I, uh, stayed here in the States and then, you know, moved to Florida to train for the Pan Globals and such. I ended up not seeing my family a lot, and once I graduated high school, things just kinda…"

"Happened?" Kim asks, her tone dry but not meaning to be sarcastic, just flat.

"Yeah."

"They tend to do that," Kim looks back at Kimberly and shrugs, "Sucks, right?"

"Absolutely," Kimberly chuckles, but it quickly dies out, "I got caught up in myself. I wasn't doing well, and I didn't want my family to see me like that. So, me and my brother ended up keeping in contact, but just barely, you know -- birthday calls, Christmas cards, that kind of stuff." She frowns and wipes a hand over her face; Kim knows without asking that she's trying her best not to tear up.

"Does he live around here?"

Kimberly shakes her head and bites on her lower lip, "No, hasn't for awhile. We both liked traveling a lot, so I always found it kinda… I don't know, sadly amusing that we both kept moving further apart. He works for some marketing agency, and last I heard, he was living in London, I think." She sighs, "He's been too busy to come to the past couple of Thanksgivings, so maybe, uh, maybe this year's the charm."

Kim has no idea what to say to that, what there _is_ to say to that, so she just takes another sip of her coffee and watches Kimberly do the same. After a few minutes of silence, she says, quietly, clearing her throat, "I'm-- I've never really… thought about this before, but you know, I guess divorce just… makes you think about things that never occurred to you before, right?" She chuckles, darkly, but when Kimberly doesn't interject, she continues, "I'm scared that it won't work out. That--" She stops, unable to voice it aloud, and bores a hole into the countertop with her eyes. If she does, then-- then it'll come into existence.

She looks up at the sound of Kimberly sniffling and instantly regrets it, averting her gaze before it makes her-- Kim presses her fingers into her eyes, and when that doesn't work, she rubs her eyes with her sleeve, dampening it with a few tears.

"I was afraid of that, too," Kimberly admits, laying it out in the air between them, "Tommy and I had a rough start when we first dated… and it just got worse with every relationship I ended. Some hurt me more than others, and…" She wipes her reddening eyes, but she's not fully crying yet. Kim's a little unfairly envious of that -- of how long she's lived, how much this doesn't hurt her anymore because she has a good life. "I did most of the breaking up. I told myself I was protecting the people I loved from…"

"Being hurt," Kim manages to get out, almost choking on her own words. She doesn't look at Kimberly and clears her throat.

"Yeah." Kimberly reaches out, laying her hand on the counter, halfway between her and Kim, "I can't promise that it's not gonna be hard as hell and that you won't wake up some days wondering whether or not it's worth it, but…"

Kim stares at Kimberly for a moment but doesn't hesitate and reaches for Kimberly's hand, barely brushing their fingertips together.

A pink spark flickers between them, fizzling out into the silent understanding.

 

* * *

 

There's an SUV and a pickup truck in the driveway of Emily's house that aren't her dad's or her mom's, and the sight of them makes Jason _hope_ that the owners of the cars aren't inside -- or he hopes that he's wrong about who owns those cars, but… the license plates tell him otherwise. Emily's house keys jingle in her hand as she unlocks the front door and steps inside. Jason trails behind her then freezes the moment his shoes hit the welcome mat.

The football team’s first string stares back at him from the Jordans' couch. There's a game on, but Jason finds that he doesn't really care who's playing.

Edward clears his throat and shifts uncomfortably in his armchair, "Hello, Jason."

"Hey, Coach," Jason murmurs back, fighting every urge he has to turn around and tell Emily that they'd be better off going to his place.

"We have a History project," Emily says, glancing at the football players, most of whom are already turning back to the TV, "Uh, I didn't know you were having the team over."

"Yeah, it was very last minute," Edward replies, "Just sort of happened."

"Oh, okay, um, well," Emily waves her hand toward her bedroom, "We'll be in my room."

Jason catches Damo quickly glancing over at him and clenches his jaw, hoping the look in his eyes is enough to make the other boy look away.

It is.

Emily briefly tugs on his sleeve, "Come on, Jason."

He follows her without another look at the crowd in the living room.

They pass by the open door of the guest bedroom, and Jason pauses for a moment, taking note of the light green walls. "You guys repainted the guest room," he comments, poking his head in, "Looks nice."

"Oh, yeah, that's gonna be my sister's room," Emily says without stopping.

He tilts his head, confused, but she's already disappeared inside her own room, so he has no choice but to follow her. "You have a sister? Since when?" Jason closes the door behind him and just kinda stands there, not really sure where he's allowed to step or stand or sit yet.

Emily throws her soccer gear in one corner and sets her backpack down by her desk. "Uh, about six months ago?" she thinks over the answer as she takes her jacket off and drapes it over her desk chair, "Yeah, that sounds about right. She's coming out of the foster system."

Seems to be a trend with the Jordans. Jason nods, "Cool. How old is she?"

He expects a really, really low number. Like… ten or something. "She turns eighteen next month."

Jason lets out a low whistle, "Whoa. That's… kinda old."

"Yeah, she's had a rough time bouncing around the system. I don't know if you know this, but people don't… really wanna adopt kids over fourteen, usually, so." Emily sits down at her desk and motions for him to take a seat on her bed instead of just awkwardly stand there. "Once kids hit eighteen, they kinda just 'age out' since they're legal." She makes air quotes with her fingers and shakes her head, a disappointed frown on her face.

Jason sits down on the edge of Emily's bed and shakes his head, "Oh, no, I didn't know that. Never really thought about it, I guess. What… what happens to them? After they, uh, age out?"

Emily huffs, "What d'you think happens? No home, no family, they're on their own."

"Shit, that's rough." He suddenly feels bad about ever resenting his dad and quietly stares at his hands in his lap. His power coin feels heavy in his jacket pocket, and he shoves his hands into his jacket pockets, his fingers brushing against it.

"Yeah," Emily murmurs, quietly. Jason decides not to ask any further, which seems all good as Emily pulls her laptop out of her backpack, bringing up the student portal.

"Rubric's up?"

"Mhm, yeah, Castillo put up a list of approved topics, too, so uh…" She takes her laptop with her and sits down next to him on the bed, "Let's figure out what we wanna spend two weeks with."

Jason grumbles and rolls his eyes, letting himself slump onto the bed, "Every time I hear _two_ weeks, just… ugh." He squints at what he's guessing is a constellation on Emily's ceiling, "What are you?"

"What am I what?"

"Your ceiling."

She turns and looks at him, "You hardly make sense half of the time, you know that?"

He points at the stick-on constellation, and she follows his finger up to the ceiling, "Oh. Pisces."

Jason tries to think about what a Pisces is and isn't. Pearl's into that astrology stuff and tried to tell him about it a few times, but he's never really remembered anything she told him. "I'm a Libra," he comments, "Don't really know what that means, but my birthday's next month, too."

"What day?"

"20th."

Emily chuckles to herself, "My sister's birthday is on the 20th."

“Oh, nice.”

Sitting back up, Jason peers at Emily's laptop as she scrolls through Mr. Castillo's approved topics. He likes history, honestly, but Jason's never been great at deadlines and "two weeks" just sounds like "this is future Jason's problem" to him, so.

"When's she coming?"

"My mom's gonna pick her up from the airport tomorrow. You'll probably get to meet her on Monday."

Jason nods, "Cool. I'm excited."

"Don't be. She's a nerd."

"I feel like I'm obligated to say 'you're a nerd' in a mocking tone," Jason mutters.

Emily closes her laptop and tosses it next to her pillows, "Well, I definitely don't feel like making any decisions right now, so… I'm waiting." She gives him a cheeky grin.

He clears his throat and rolls his eyes, " _You're_ a nerd."

She laughs -- _laughs_ in a way that makes him smile without meaning to -- at his delivery and shakes her head, getting up, "I'm gonna go check if the guys are gone, okay?"

They're not. Jason assumes she can't hear them with her door closed and all -- with her _human_ hearing and all -- but he can still faintly hear the TV. "You don't have to do that," he says before she's to the door, "They're still out there. I didn't hear anyone's car leave."

Emily stops and raises her eyebrows at him, "Those are some good ears you have."

"The better to hear you with," he says, instinctively.

She snorts, "Creepy."

Emily crosses her arms and glances him over, "What if you just went out there? Sat down, had some pizza, watched the game?"

It's his turn to raises his eyebrows at her. "Yeah, right," Jason scoffs, "Like that's gonna happen."

"Why not?" she throws her hands up, "Because you're not on the team anymore? I thought you used to be friends with them."

The thought suddenly occurs to him that Emily has no idea what the full story is. He squints at her, "What d'you know about what happened? About my accident?"

She seems taken aback by the question and pauses, running a hand through her hair as she thinks, "Uh, I don't know, I heard about it from the news, saw people talking about it on Snapchat. You went and… tried to sneak a cow into Montgomery High, the cops came, you evaded arrest and led them on a, uh, very short car chase."

"Did you dad tell you anything?"

Emily sighs, "That he kicked you from the team. Or, well, it was _decided_ that it was best for you to not be on it anymore. Why? What am I missing?"

Jason chuckles under his breath, "Like, everything, mostly." He feels restless, so he stands and starts pacing -- energy and all, Jason's never been one for standing still, especially when he's about to get worked up, which he always is when _this_ conversation comes up. "Okay, so, the 'official' story," he explains, his voice taking on a slightly mocking tone, using air quotes that make Emily raise her eyebrows, curiously, "Is that I, Jason Scott, decided to put a cow -- his name is Beefcake, by the way, we're buds -- in Montgomery High as a Senior Prank from, you know, Angel Grove to Montgomery, _alone,_ and then, when cops responded to a break-in because of a silent alarm being triggered, I ran -- by _myself_ \-- from the cops and then, you know, crashed, fucked up my knee, and ruined Angel Grove's season. Or whatever."

Emily stares at him for a long moment, and he can see her piecing it together in her mind. "Who helped you, Jason?"

He shakes his head at her, "No one. _Officially,_ I acted alone."

"Alright, fine," Emily huffs and rolls her eyes, " _Hypothetically,_ then, if you were to do that all over again, with help this time, who would go with you?"

Jason sighs and looks down at the carpet, "Damo and Hawkeye."

"You didn't rat them out," she says, quietly, realizing.

He scowls, "There was nobody to rat out 'cause I acted alone." Then, "I was in jail for three days."

Emily _stops_ and stares at him, opening her mouth but no words coming out. "Wait… what? You-- you were in _jail?_ "

"Yeah," he sighs, defeatedly, his shoulders sagging, "My dad didn't visit me. Nobody else did, either, 'cept my mom and my sister. But, I mean, nobody else knew."

"Holy shit," Emily whispers, her face still stuck on disbelief, still processing.

Yeah, holy shit was right. Jason runs a hand over his face, feeling an all-too familiar suffocating heat begin to burn in his stomach. Coming here had been a mistake-- but he had no way of knowing that the team would be there-- but he should've _anticipated,_ should've been ready for _anything--_

He tugs at his jacket collar and takes a deep breath, forcing himself to stay steady. "I should go," he mumbles.

Emily peers at him, her features becoming concerned, "Do you want me to… get you some water?"

Shaking his head before she can leave and do just that, Jason waves his hand at her, "No, no, it's fine. I'm just… gonna go home."

Her hand is on his arm, touching him only briefly before quickly pulling away, as he reaches for the doorknob. "I'm sorry, Jason."

He breathes and feels a fire start to burn inside of him. "Yeah, I'm sorry, too."

 

* * *

 

Her dad had fished out one of her old phones and reactivated while she was at school. It was left on the kitchen counter with a note when Trini got home, after Kim had dropped her off, and she'd breathed a sigh of relief, quickly re-adding the Rangers and Kimberly and Tommy's contact info. That was, unfortunately, pretty much the only phone numbers she knew besides her mom and dad's.

Zack re-adds her to both group chats once she texts him, which is great and all, but… she's still grounded.

There's not much to do now that she's grounded. Trini, honestly, hasn't been grounded in over a year, and the feeling of absolute, crippling boredom and stir-crazed anxiety is already starting to settle in, shortly after she'd gone straight to her room and collapsed on her bed.

The opportunity to take a nap doesn't slip past her, though, and she easily passes out after sending a text off to her parents that she's home. At this point, her body is tired enough to just drop straight into sleep, but for whatever Ranger superpowered-ness, Trini doesn't entirely feel the effects of sleep deprivation in her mind. She's been up for over thirty hours by now. It's not like she hasn't pulled full all-nighters before, but normally, her body would've crashed in the middle of one of her classes.

She doesn't dream. It's not a deep enough sleep to dream, and it's not a deep enough sleep for her to not instantly wake up the moment something brushes against her consciousness.

Trini opens her eyes and blinks away the disorientation, staring at her ceiling, just laying there, listening for the reason why she'd just randomly woken up.

Vaguely, she can hear the sound of the living room TV through the floor, so her parents are home by now. Trini reaches for her phone on her bedside table and glances at the time.

6:29 PM.

She focuses on the feeling in her chest -- hot but smothering, warm but _too_ warm. Throwing the covers back doesn't do anything to change how she feels. Trini can feel the air hitting her legs, but it doesn't affect the heat inside. It's not the outside -- it can't be. Her parents always keep the house at a relative 72 degrees. That's not enough to make her feel like a fire is about to burn her up from the inside out.

Her breathing quickens, spurred by the uncertainty of the suffocating sensation in her chest, and for a moment, she almost loses it, almost gives in to the hyperventilation, but at the last moment, it hits her.

This is a panic attack.

But it's not _her_ panic attack.

She scrambles up from her bed and is changing back into her clothes almost immediately, discarding her pajamas onto her bed. Halfway through putting her shirt on, Trini stops at a knock on her door.

"Trini?" Her dad's voice floats through the door.

Shit. "Uh, yeah?"

"Are you going to come down for dinner?"

Shit, shit, shit. She pulls on her jacket and puts on a beanie while answering, "Um, can you put mine in the fridge for later? I'm… really tired, and I just wanna sleep right now." She cringes to herself, knowing that it's a shit excuse but desperately hoping that her dad would take it.

A moment passes.

"Alright, then. Goodnight." Her dad's footsteps recede down the stairs, and Trini waits until she can no longer hear him before she lets out a sigh of relief. She makes sure the door is locked tight before going on.

She grabs her phone and pulls up the Power Geeks™ group chat, even as she's sliding her window open and climbing out onto the roof.

_[T 6:36 PM] um this is gonna sound rly weird but do u guys feel that_

Trini jumps down to the driveway, making sure to keep away from any of the windows, in case her parents look outside.

Her phone beeps with a response that comes quicker than she expects it to.

_[KH 6:36 PM] it_

_[KH 6:36 PM] feels like_

_[KH 6:36 PM] feels lik e a pnaic attck_

The sensation in her chest tightens, spikes faster, but Trini forces it down with gritted teeth. She breaks into a run and leaves the vicinity of her house, not quite knowing where she's going but just knowing that she needs to be away from home first.

_[T 6:37 PM] breathe_

_[KH 6:37 PM] im  fkcing tyrin g_

_[KH 6:37 PM] who si it /? its nfo me_

_[ZT 6:37 PM] not me either_

_[ZT 6:37 PM] kim r u alone_

_[KH 6:37 PM] This is Kimberly. I'm with her._

Trini lets out a sigh of relief as she skids to a stop in a wooded area at the end of her neighborhood. That only leaves two people.

_[T 6:37 PM] u got her?_

_[KH 6:37 PM] Yes. I'll take care of her._

_[T 6:38 PM] k thx_

_[T 6:38 PM] billy? jason? r u guys ok_

_[BC 6:39 PM] I'm ok. It's not me._

Fuck.

_[T 6:39 PM] jay where r u_

_[T 6:39 PM] jason im srry abt all the txts but we need 2 know where u r_

_[T 6:39 PM] count 2 four, breathe in, count 2 four, breathe out_

It's an agonizing five minutes of her standing there, staring at her phone, waiting in dead silence as the tightening of her chest only increases in so very small but definitely noticeable increments. She fights it in her head, putting up steel walls and blocking the fear out. She does it so well that the buzzing of her own anxiety is nothing more than a soft whisper at the edge of her consciousness.

There's more important things to focus on. It keeps her going.

_[JS 6:44 PM] im at th e entran ce to brihg t water i can tdrive_

_[T 6:44 PM] stay there ok? keep breathing_

Billy doesn't drive. Kim's in no shape to drive.

She calls Zack. He picks up on the first ring.

"Are you good enough to go?"

His voice is grim, hoarse, much like how she imagines hers sounds as well. In the background, she can hear the _whoosh_ and _crackle_ as the wind interferes with the microphone and speakers. _"Yeah, I'm already headed there."_

 

* * *

 

She gets to Brightwater before Zack does; her house is closer, only about ten minutes away by car, and she's running at, well, faster than that.

Jason's truck is at the entrance, like he'd said, just shy of the stop sign leading out of the neighborhood, pulled off to the curb, its hazard lights blinking. Trini approaches it, making sure to come from the front so that Jason can, at the very least, see her coming.

"Jason?" she calls out, and he must hear her because he looks up from leaning his head against the steering wheel and sees her through the windshield. His eyes are frightened, wild, and his chest and shoulders visibly shake as he breathes. Trini involuntarily thinks of a deer in headlights.

She swallows any reservations she has and goes over to his driver's side and taps very gently on the window. With a momentary struggle, he manages to roll the window down -- but only partially. Whether that's intentional or not, Trini doesn't ask.

"Hey," she says, softly.

"Hi," Jason mutters, strained. His breathing is loud, rough.

Trini hears Zack come up behind her and sees Jason glance at him, but she doesn't take her eyes off of him, keeping her voice steady, despite how every breath she takes feels like it just feeds the smothering more, "Zack's here. We're here to help you, Jay. Can we… come inside?"

He looks away and thinks about his answer then looks back at her. "I can't-- I can't drive," he says, instead.

"That's okay." Trini looks at Zack, her eyes asking a silent question that he answers with a nod. "Zack can drive for you."

"Okay," Jason nods to her and Zack and then to himself, "Okay."

"Jason." He looks at her as if suddenly remembering that she's there. "I'm gonna ask you to do something. Is that okay?"

He pauses then wordlessly nods, his chest still heaving.

"Can you move to the backseat?"

"Oh-- okay, yeah." His movements are sluggish as he opens the door and stumbles out of the car. Trini and Zack both step back to give him space, but the moment he seems unsure about opening the back door, Trini takes a small step closer.

"Do you need help, Jase? Would you mind if I touched you?" Jason shakes his head after a moment, so Zack opens the back door for him and Trini guides him into the backseat, holding onto his arm in case he stumbles. He's trembling under her grip, but she steels herself and tries not to think about it.

Zack shuts the door as gently as possible, gets into the driver's seat, adjusting it to fit him, and turns off the hazard lights. His hand is on the gear stick; he glances at Trini and Jason, waiting.

"Jason?" Trini gently nudges him to get his attention.

"Hm?"

"Where do you wanna go?"

He thinks about it for a moment and lets out a shaky breath, "H-home. Please."

 

* * *

 

Thankfully, the Scotts' driveway is completely empty when Zack parks Jason's truck in it. They're well past his curfew mandated by the Sheriff's Department, but his parents don't know that he has a hacker friend who "fixed" his ankle monitor weeks ago, so they still trust him to be home on time.

At the front door, Jason's hands shake too hard to even hold his keys, causing them to rattle wildly, so Trini wordlessly pries them from his hands and unlocks the front door to the Scott house.

"I'm s-sorry," he mumbles as she guides him inside, her hand on his back, "You guys shouldn't be seeing me like-- like this--"

On the drive to his house, she'd managed to get his breathing to plateau out, but now, she can tell he's starting to _think_ again and his breaths become shallower. Trini's chest tightens, and she gently rubs his arm. "It's okay, Jason, nobody's judging you," she says, "We're here to help you."

He mutely nods and follows along as she helps him further into the house. She nods at Zack and whispers, "Get him a glass of water."

"Do you wanna go to your room?" Trini asks.

Jason frowns immediately and shakes his head one time too many, "N-no, no, no, I-I don't."

"Okay, that's okay. We'll just sit down in the kitchen. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, that's… that's fine."

They come into the kitchen, and Trini pulls out a chair for Jason at the dining table, pushing aside a stack of mail on it. "How are you feeling?"

He tugs at his jacket collar a little desperately and mutters, "It's hot. I'm-- I'm on fire."

Trini pauses, remembering the feeling when she'd woken up earlier. Like being stuck in a building on fire. "You're not on fire, okay? Here, lemme help you take that off." She helps him take his jacket off and drapes it over the back of his chair then sits down in the chair next to him. "Is that better?"

Jason makes a vague noise of acknowledgement.

Zack finally finds the cabinet with the glasses and fills one up with tap water, setting it in front of Jason before sitting down on his other side, "Here, buddy."

"Thanks." He just stares at the glass, though, his breathing still slightly strained and shaking. "I've been awake for a-- a very long time," he mumbles, finally, letting out a brief chuckle.

She gives his a small smile, "Yeah, you have. I think a nap would really help you out."

He nods in agreement with her.

"Do you think you can drink a little bit of water first? It'd help you cool down."

At the mention of cooling down, Jason's breath hitches, and he pulls at the fabric of his shirt, about to spiral again, but Zack puts a hand over his.

"Hey, you're not on fire," he reminds him, gently, "We're here."

"Okay." Jason picks up the glass and takes a hesitant sip then a longer one and nods, "Okay."

Zack glances at Trini, "I'm gonna go let the others know he's at home, alright?"

"Yeah, sure," she nods. Both of their phones have been on silent since getting in the car with Jason, and she'd taken Jason's away and silenced it as well shortly after he muttered about the notifications scaring him.

Zack pulls out his phone and disappears into another room.

Jason takes another sip of water, close to finishing half the glass. His hands are still shaking, but she can hear his breathing start to calm down.

She gives him a small, encouraging smile, "You're doing good."

He nods to himself as if to affirm the fact then looks at her, "Thanks… thanks for being here."

"Of course," Trini says, "We're a family."

 

* * *

 

Kimberly's phone _bings_ with a new message, and she quickly silences it before it can disturb Kim can further. She freezes, waiting for the girl to wake up, but Kim doesn't stir and only snuggles closer into Kimberly's side, her arms around Kimberly's waist.

Sitting up in bed, she hasn't been able to feel her entire torso for almost an hour now, but it's a fair trade if it means Kim is comfortable.

**_The Ranger Bunch_ **

_[ZT 7:51 PM] j is ok_

_[ZT 7:51 PM] hes at his house_

_[ZT 7:51 PM] me & t are w/ him _

_[BC 7:51 PM] Okay, good. Thank you for letting us know, Zack._

A moment later, her phone screen lights up with Zack's caller ID, and she's glad that she silenced it.

"Hello?" she whispers, bringing the phone to her ear.

_"Why're you whispering?"_

"Because Kim's right next to me and she's sleeping."

_"Aw, that's cute. So, she's okay?"_

Kimberly snorts then pauses, waiting for Kim to stir. When the girl doesn't move, she continues, "Yeah, she's alright. She kind of… cried until she got exhausted and then fell asleep. On me. I haven't been able to move for awhile now."

There's a moment of silence before Zack speaks. _"Have you ever seen this before? Like… do you know what this is? Zordon's told us before that we have, like, a bond with each other? But, I just thought he was speaking, you know… figuratively."_

She does. "Yeah, you're all connected to each other. I mean, I don't know to what _degree,_ but… most of the time, it's kinda just like a feeling, you know? You know when someone's in trouble or you just have a hunch." Kimberly chuckles, softly, "Or everyone craves smoothies at the same time."

It differs from team to team -- why, she doesn't know, and she doesn't think she'll ever really figure it out. The Morphing Grid works in mysterious ways. But, Kimberly has definitely seen it before.

 _"Do you have any experience with it?"_ Zack asks, curiously.

She remembers the deafening silence after Trini had died -- emptiness like a gunshot wound to the stomach, the silence that her entire team had caused, together, all cutting each other off. Silence that had left her shaken for years.

With her free hand, she pulls Kim a little closer, gently stroking her hair. The motion keeps her grounded, even if her hand starts prickling with numbness.

Kimberly clears her throat, very quietly, "Um, yeah, I've had some. Not with a panic attack, though."

_"Okay. Uh, I'm gonna go make sure Jason gets some sleep. Thanks for helping Kim out."_

"Yeah, of course, no problem. Thanks for keeping me updated."

 

* * *

 

Billy had been okay, but now, he was worried. Worried about Jason, worried about Kim, and as he ran all the way to the ship, worried about the possibilities of what had just occurred.

If they could react like this to Jason having a panic attack, then what did that mean when someone dies?

What did that mean when _he_ died?

Billy's a little bit eased by the fact that it didn't mean the other four immediately keeled over as well, but… the question of symptoms unnerved him as he made his way across town, up the mountains, into the quarry, and down to the ship.

Working calms him. It always does.

He lands -- not gracefully at all, still -- in the cavern with a loud _thump_ and grunts, sitting up to find Alpha scaling one of the cavern walls.

"Alpha?"

"Hello, Master Billy!" Alpha chirps.

"What're you doing?" Billy asks, standing up and dusting himself off.

Alpha rotates his entire head around to look at Billy, and Billy looks away, frowning, a bit disturbed by… that. Things that shouldn't be able to rotate their heads around 180 degrees: owls and, now, apparently, Alpha 5.

"I was checking up on some energy readings earlier, but I still haven't gotten very far with figuring out if it's trouble… so I went to go work on the elevator," Alpha says.

"Oh, okay, cool," Billy squints, "Why are you on the wall?"

"I'm measuring."

He doesn't see any measuring tape, so he figures whatever Alpha's using is in his head. Probably not in English, either. "How are the communicators coming along?"

"They're done!"

Billy blinks in surprise, "Oh, they're done? That was… fast."

Alpha hops down and motions for Billy to follow him to the ship, "I kept working on them for most of yesterday and today since I don't have to fight monsters like you, Master Billy. Or go to school."

"Yeah, that's fair."

The door to the ship slides open as Billy and Alpha approach it, and Alpha leads him down a series of hallways that Billy has already, thankfully, memorized. Everyone else still gets lost from time to time when going anywhere else that's not the main chamber or The Pit, but not Billy.

The workshop Alpha takes him into, Billy knows, is one of many -- after all, this used to be a ship occupied by five, no, six Rangers -- and rather sizable. There's several tables that, instead of having legs, are attached to the walls.

Billy briefly wonders if that makes them shelves? Or tables? Table-shelves? They're still tables, though?

He forgets those thoughts when he sees the communicators on a table -- table-shelf -- against the far wall and excitedly runs over to them, grinning.

"I took your advice about making them less inconspicuous since Kimberly's old one is not," Alpha says, proudly, "And I used those pictures you showed me of those… smartwatches?"

"Yeah, smartwatches," Billy nods, eyeing the communicators. They could easily be confused for actual smartwatches, pretty much. A round, digital watch face is framed by different colored metal links -- red, yellow, black, blue, pink, and-- "You made two others?" Another, darker pink one sits at the far end, away from the others, and next to it, a white one.

Alpha murmurs in confirmation, "Yes, for Kimberly and Tommy, if they're going to be here awhile. If they leave, of course, I can always just scrap them." He sighs, a little wearily, "There's a _lot_ of scrap on this ship."

"I'd imagine so," Billy says, "It's not like you can really do much around here, stuck underneath the mountain and all. Lots of auxiliary systems going to waste." He picks up the blue communicator and examines its light weight in his hands then glances at Alpha, "Are these connected to our phones?"

Alpha shrugs, "They can be with some tweaking. Right now, they're just connected to the ship's communications relay and teleportation matrix, but you'd need to come up with something to connect your cell phones to them. It's definitely doable, though."

Billy flashes Alpha a smile, "Have you heard of Bluetooth?"

 

* * *

 

He and Alpha work for the good portion of an hour until something loudly beeps, distantly, in another hallway, and Alpha rushes off, leaving Billy to tinker and put the finishing touches on the communicators.

Alpha runs back into the workshop, rambling hastily, "Those energy readings are back, Master Billy!"

"Putty activity?" he asks, immediately setting the communicator in his hands back down on the table-shelf.

Alpha nods, "Here, come look. You'll get the coordinates to the other Rangers?"

Billy nods, trailing behind Alpha, already pulling his phone out, "Yeah, yeah, of course."

 

* * *

 

Trini's phone _bings_ in her pocket, jolting her from the half-nap she'd been having in Jason's desk chair. She pulls it out and glances at it.

**_Power Geeks™_ **

_[BC 8:48 PM] Alpha detected some Putty activity._

Underneath were a set of coordinates that Trini vaguely recognizes as the docks.

_Where the dead ships live._

She swallows the thought and purges it from her mind, getting up and going over to nudge Zack awake. He'd called dibs on Jason's bean bag chair in the corner, thinking that Trini would be more upset at having to nap in a desk chair than she actually was. "Hey," she says, nudging his foot again, "Hey, get up."

"Hm, wass' goin' on?" Zack stretches and grumbles.

"Putties."

 _That_ wakes him up, and he sits up straighter, blinking.

"Billy texted us with the coordinates," Trini says, walking over to Jason's bed, where he's still passed out, his chest heavily rising and falling. "Jay," she gently shakes him, "Hey, Jason, wake up."

He stirs, slightly, and rubs a hand over his eyes, looking at her, "Wha?"

"Putties."

Groggily, he pulls himself into a sitting position, taking in his surroundings, and instantly, Trini can see his brain remembering the past couple of hours. He pointedly avoids her gaze as he gets out of bed, "Alright, let's… let's go." He goes for his car keys sitting on his nightstand.

"Whoa," Zack stands and holds a hand out, "I'll drive, dude."

Jason pauses, "I can drive."

Zack pries the keys from Jason's hand, "I'll drive."

"I-- Okay, fine," he concedes then heads for the door.

Trini and Zack follow him down the stairs and to the front door. The house is lit from the lights she and Zack turned on earlier, but eerily quiet. Trini knows that none of the Scotts have been home; she would've woken up if anyone else had come in. "Where's your family?" she asks as she follows Jason.

"Pearl's got this parent-teacher open house conference thing tonight," Jason says, grabbing his jacket from the kitchen table and shrugging it on, "I think my mom said they were gonna go to a drive-in after or something, too. There's, like, one across town showing, uhhhh, I have no idea."

Zack snorts, "That's helpful. They didn't invite you?"

Jason turns around as they get to his car and rolls his eyes, "I can't come." He points to where his jean leg is rumpled up and his ankle monitor sticks out, "I've got a date, remember?"

"Right."

Trini gets into the backseat, automatically, and Jason follows her, settling in next to her. He hasn't said anything about earlier, yet, but she can hear the words he wants to say through the absence of them.

Zack starts the car and pulls out of the driveway, starting down the neighborhood.

"Thanks for not crashing my truck," Jason says, chuckling.

"Ha, I can't do any worse than you did, right?" Zack flashes Jason a grin in the rearview mirror.

"Yeah, guess you can't."

They fall into a comfortable silence after that as Zack drives them to the docks. Trini settles into her seat, staring out the window, and when Jason wordlessly leans his head on her shoulder, she lets him.

 

* * *

 

Kim's phone vibrates and beeps in her pockets, bringing her back to the land of consciousness. Kimberly doesn't move as she stirs, opening her eyes and rubbing the sleepiness out of them.

"What…" she murmurs to herself.

"Hey," Kimberly says, plainly, moving her arm to let Kim sit up. A pink spark fizzles out between them as Kim pulls away from closely snuggling her, as she'd been doing for...

"Hey… how long have I been asleep?"

Kimberly checks her phone, "About two hours."

"Felt like an eternity."

"Yeah," Kimberly mutters, dryly, putting some pressure onto her stomach with her hand, trying to force some sensation back into it, "Not like you haven't had your arm draped over me like a dead weight for two hours."

Tommy snickers to himself from where he's sitting at the kitchen island, and Kim flinches, surprised to find him there.

"Oh, you're back."

"Uh-huh," he says, clicking away at his laptop, "You snore."

"No, I don't," Kim mutters, indignantly, getting out of the bed.

"Yeah, you do," Kimberly counters, "You were breathing right next to me. There was definitely snoring."

Kim rolls her eyes and pulls her phone out, checking her notifications, "Aw, shit."

Kimberly raises her eyebrows, amused, "What?"

"Should've checked my phone first," she mutters, grabbing her jacket from the couch, "Putties down by the docks."

"Do you need a ride?" Tommy asks.

"Nah, I drove here, I've got it," she pauses, glancing at Kimberly, "Uh, thanks for… earlier. Sorry I can't, you know--" She motions to her phone.

Kimberly waves a hand and shakes her head, "Yeah, no, 'thank you' is good enough. I'm glad I could help. Just go."

"Okay, cool, cool. See you guys later." She's out the door -- not in a flash, but almost as fast.

 

* * *

 

The five of them, morphed, stride, cautiously, down the docks, their footsteps uncannily quiet against the wooden planks despite, well, how heavy their armor is. The night is dark, and the only sound in the air is their breathing and the water as it laps against the pier.

"I swear these things are never going away," Kim mutters, wearily, "Anybody find anything yet?"

"Not so far. Maybe it's not a false alarm," Jason says, walking ahead of her. She glances at his back; his shoulders are a bit tense. After this, they all need to talk. And maybe hug. A lot. Kim knows she could definitely use it.

From behind her, Zack calls out, "Okay, so, this is _weird…_ "

They all turn around. Zack holds up a green… container? It looks to Kim like one of those weird glowy test containers that she's seen in movies where shady shit's involved. A deformed hand sits inside of the container, suspended in an clear, green solution -- one that Kim realizes with a sinking sensation in her stomach is a Putty's hand.

"High school science project?" Kim jokes, uneasily.

"It's a trap," Billy says, abruptly.

A light flips on, and they're bathed in a bright spotlight. Kim cringes, holding a hand over her visor to stop the disorientation. When she drops her hand and lets her eyes adjust, she sees that they're surrounded.

The barrel of an assault rifle is pointed directly at her, and in a circle of identically dressed soldiers, others are also pointing guns at her teammates.

"Oh, boy," Billy squeaks.

"You're right," a woman's voice calls out, and Kim looks for the source as a woman steps out from behind one of the soldiers. She's cleanly dressed in a military jacket and a sharp, green button-up shirt and slacks -- the leader, Kim guesses, of course. "This is a trap," the woman says, "But, these are the lengths you have to go to meet the Power Rangers."

"These guys have a lot of guns," Zack mutters, bitterly, "Why don't _we_ have guns?"

Jason stares at the woman. "Who are you?" he demands, firmly, "What do you want?" His fists are clenched at his sides, and if Kim hadn't known, she wouldn't have been able to guess where he was mentally, just hours ago.

Billy tenses up next to Kim. "We can take them, man. Just say the word."

Kim doubts that. A little bit. They have _no_ idea if their armor is bulletproof, and she isn't in the mood to find out tonight.

"No. No. Say no words. We're not here for a fight. Least not yet. These boys are mostly to make a point," the woman says, quickly, but unerringly calmly, "My name is Melanie Sheer, and I work for Apex."

The name means nothing to her.

But, Billy shifts from foot to foot. "Oh, man," he whispers to the others, "I've heard of them. Dark web stuff. Scary."

Jason stays stock still. "So, what's your message?" he asks, raising his chin. Fearless. But, still just a kid in armor like the rest of them.

Melanie crosses her arms, "The American government applauds and appreciates your efforts… so far. However, we don't like aliens fighting our battles for us without _oversight._ "

Aliens? Kim almost scoffs but manages to keep her mouth shut.

The gun pointed at her doesn't waver.

"Well," Jason's voice hardens, and Kim imagines that his jaw is clenched, eyes cold, "We don't work for you. And pointing a bunch of guns at us isn't going to change that."

Melanie shrugs, "Maybe. Maybe not."

She snaps her fingers. The spotlight shining on the Rangers flickers, and the soldiers melt back into the shadows, disappearing instantly.

_How… how the fuck?_

"Keep fighting the good fight, Rangers. But, the minute you step out of line, I'll be back… and I'll have bigger toys next time." Melanie turns to go then pauses, calling over her shoulder, "You can keep the hand, by the way. I've got your _old friends_ to keep me busy. So until you screw up, remember… I'll be watching."

The spotlight cuts out, plunging them into darkness.

 

* * *

 

"Never seen anything like it," Kimberly mutters, shaking her head.

They're all back in the ship after having called Kimberly and Tommy to meet them there.

"I mean," Kim runs a hand through her hair, sighing, "It's… there have been Rangers for, like, _decades,_ right? You guys are saying you've never had trouble with the government before?"

Tommy shrugs, "We've openly worked with NASADA before. They're military, but they've always been really, really cooperative. As far as I know… the U.S. government is an ally of the Power Rangers."

Trini scoffs and raises her eyebrows, "Doesn't seem like it anymore. Those guns pointed in our faces were _real._ "

Kimberly and Tommy both look equally disturbed and upset, their postures tense. Kim pays special attention to how Kimberly is ever so slightly leaning her body towards Tommy's and how he's tilted just a little bit toward her so that his taller frame protects her.

She suddenly realizes that she's gonna miss seeing that if they leave.

"Are you guys staying?" Kim asks, quietly.

Everyone looks at the couple, who glance at each other. They don't say anything, but Kim assumes that they're having their silent, married, telepathic conversation that contains multitudes with the slightest of eye contact. Or something.

Finally, they look back at the Rangers.

"Yeah," Kimberly says, nodding, "We're staying."

Kim's shoulders lose their tension, and she lets out a sigh of relief that Kimberly tilts her head at, smirking.

"Knew you'd miss me."

"You have no proof."

Billy clears his throat and grins, "If you guys are staying, then I have a surprise for everyone." He turns to walk away then turns back and says, "Don't go anywhere."

Zack chuckles, "Wasn't planning on it, buddy."

Just as quickly as he runs out of the chamber, Billy is back, holding in his hands seven… smartwatches?

Kim gives him a blank look that the other Rangers mirror, but Kimberly squeals. Actually _squeals._

"They're communicators!" Billy exclaims, gleefully, "So that we can talk to Zordon and Alpha and also teleport. I took the same design of the one Kimberly had and upgraded to look more, um, modern."

"Inconspicuous," Kimberly says, shaking her head and chuckling.

"Well, yeah, that, too." He hands each one out to the respective Ranger.

Kim examines the communicator, letting her wrist get used to the cool metal as it presses against her skin when she latches it close. "How'd you get our wrist sizes, Billy?" she asks, raising her eyebrows. It fits… oddly perfectly.

"Oh, uh, Alpha has sensors in his head."

Right. That definitely explains it all.

Billy goes over to Kimberly and Tommy with the last two in his hand -- dark pink and white. Kimberly fights to contain the grin on her face while Tommy looks only slightly less exuberant as Kimberly does -- but Kim assumes that's just because he's not as absolutely expressive as his wife.

"Holy crap," Kimberly whispers as she latches hers onto her left wrist. She does a little hop and grins at Tommy, and Kim mentally curses not having Snapchat ready to go on her phone.

"Oh, I also have your old one," Billy says, reaching into his pocket and pulling it out, "Here, thanks for letting me look at it."

"Yeah, no problem," Kimberly takes her old communicator and puts it in her pocket but forgets it almost immediately, caught up in, well, basically a new toy, "This is… so cool."

"It's so _not_ '90s," Tommy quips, which earns him an elbow in the side that he takes with a chuckle.

"Um," Tommy glances at Alpha and Billy, "Zordon told us that the teleportation matrix in this ship is for… Eltarian physiology, though, or, well, you know, _not_ human. Did you guys find a way around that?"

Billy pauses. "Theo...retically… yes."

A chorus of " _What?_ " causes him to flinch and pout.

"Theoretically? Dude, so you're saying you don't know if it works for us?" Zack asks, throwing his hands in the air, "What happens when we try it, then?"

"Maybe you'll accidentally teleport yourself away from me. I'm thinking… Saturn," Trini mutters, getting a hearty laugh out of Jason.

Zack wags a threatening finger at her.

Billy rubs the back of his neck, sheepishly, "I was hoping this could be our test run."

"Oh, so," Kim gestures to the room, "Someone has to step up and be a guinea pig, then?" She immediately puts her finger on her nose. Trini and Jason immediately follow her lead, and Zack scrambles to do the same.

Billy glances at his teammates and then, uncertainly, puts his finger on his nose.

Kimberly rolls her eyes, "Wow, you guys are wimps." Still, she shoots Tommy a reluctant glance.

"It's alright," Tommy says, reassuringly, looking at the white communicator on his wrist, "If we accidentally end up in the middle of nowhere, at least I'll be in the middle of nowhere with you."

Kim lets out a distraught noise, "You _can't_ say that right before you teleport away! God, I'm gonna feel so guilty if you die, then."

Kimberly laughs and shakes her head, "Good." Then, to Billy, "Okay, so, how do these work?"

"Oh," he points, "There's a button on the side, just like yours. I kept that function simple because it didn't really make any sense to change it."

"Alright," Kimberly takes a deep breath, "Okay, uh, here goes. We're gonna try to teleport…" She trails off, unsure.

"Let's try the medbay," Tommy suggests.

"Yeah, okay. Medbay, it is."

They both press the buttons on their communicators, and the Rangers blink as the two disappear in two identical flashes of white light.

A moment passes.

"You think they're okay?" Jason asks.

Down one of the hallways leading to the medbay, Kimberly screams.

"Oh, shit," Kim breaks out into a run in the direction of the scream, the others and Alpha following behind her. She skids to a stop in the medbay…

Where Kimberly and Tommy burst out into laughter, leaning against the wall and each other at the look of absolute horror on Kim and the other Rangers' faces.

Kimberly opens her mouth to say something but then loses it all over again, giggling wildly.

Kim sighs and rolls her eyes, "You guys are the absolute worst."

 

* * *

 

"This is really nice," Adam says with a low, appreciative whistle, examining the communicator while Kimberly sips at a coffee mug and leans back on his couch.

Naturally, after she and Tommy had left the ship, they'd immediately gone over to Adam's house to share the news. And rub his face in their cool new toys.

"Yeah," Kimberly nods in agreement, her wrist already feeling bare while Adam's holding her communicator. She busies her hands with a blank piece of paper from a notepad sitting on his coffee table as she talks, folding it back and forth. "It's pretty cool, _and_ Billy told us that he got it to have Bluetooth capabilities, too, so it basically _is_ a smartwatch, just with… bonus capabilities."

"Being a Power Ranger is a real money-saver," Tommy jokes, leaning his head against Kimberly's shoulder.

"Do you guys know where you're gonna be staying, then?" Adam asks, turning the communicator over in his hands, still entranced by it, "I mean, you can't rent out that hotel room forever."

"Technically," Kimberly murmurs, "I _can,_ but that's a waste of my money."

"Right. Because you're rich."

"You bet I am. But, actually, we were thinking about staying with you," she says, slowly, like a suggestion when it's really a you-have-no-choice-we're-already-here-and-it's-already-been-decided kind of tone.

Adam glances up at her and scowls, "Do I have a choice or has the decision already been made since you guys are already here?"

Kimberly smiles, and Adam huffs. But, he's just kidding around. She knows for a fact that his guest room is painfully empty and can easily fit two occupants.

She finishes folding the piece of paper in her hands and offers it to him, grinning cheekily, "Here. As a present for your generosity in letting us crash with you."

It was an origami frog.

Adam snatches it out of her hands and gets up from his seat, grumbling, "I literally hate you." He walks away, disappearing down the hallway, but not before putting the little origami frog on top of the fireplace mantel.

"I bet you literally don't," Tommy calls out after him. When he's out of earshot, he says to Kimberly, reassuringly, "He literally doesn't."

"Oh, I know," she takes another sip of her coffee.

"I don't think you should be drinking that when you haven't napped all day. Or yesterday, either."

"Oh, I know that, too."

Adam walks back into the room, carrying a black shoebox.

"What's in the box?" Kimberly asks, nodding at it.

He squints at her, "I'm clearly about to show you… How many cups of coffee have you had?"

"Five and a half," Tommy mutters, shaking his head.

Kimberly drains the rest of the mug and sets it down on the coffee table with a proud smile. "Six," she amends.

Adam blinks at her. "Okay, anyway, I was thinking that this could be useful for you guys." He takes the lid off of the shoebox and pulls out--

Kimberly flinches and presses herself closer to Tommy. "Adam," she says, slowly, "That's a gun."

"It's not loaded."

"It's still a gun. Why do you have a _gun?_ We're _superheroes._ "

He sighs and puts the gun -- wow, guns really did look bigger in person… definitely a _lot_ more dangerous-looking than they did on crime shows -- back into the shoebox, "We're _retired,_ Kim. If I get mugged at gunpoint, am I gonna risk my secret identity and morph just to stop someone from robbing me?"

"You could hi-yah the gun out of his hands," Tommy suggests with a sarcastic smile, a hint of drowsiness seeping into his tone.

"Try that and tell me how well it works," Adam says, dryly.

"Okay, well, we both have our powers, Adam, we're fine," Kimberly says, shrugging.

Adam crosses his arms, "Tommy does. You know, Mr. Every Color Under the Rainbow."

"That's nowhere close to true, and you know that," Tommy mutters, pouting.

"Yeah, well, Kim, you only have one set of powers," Adam says, pointedly, "And you can't use them because we can't risk finding out what happens if you morph while Kim still has her powers. Therefore…"

"Therefore…" Kimberly echoes, "I've never used an _actual_ gun, though. I'm assuming it's not anything like a Blade Blaster. Or a bow."

Tommy chuckles, "Would be a lot easier if that was how it worked."

Adam shrugs. "I can teach you." He throws in a wink for good measure, and she bites her lower lip, smiling. "Okay, so… here's the plan. You guys can crash here for tonight then go check out of your hotel tomorrow, and, uh…"

"Become permanent residents of your house, never pay rent, and never leave?" Tommy chimes in.

"Yeah, that." Adam holds his hand out to them, palm down, and Kimberly's thrown back to decades before -- a younger, different time, all six of them, huddled together in the Command Center, celebrating after one of many victories.

Tommy puts his hand on top of Adam's, and they both look at her.

Kimberly grins as she puts her hand in the pile as well.

"Alright, boys, we're back in the game."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> super long end note but
> 
> \- come join the legacy discord server! pretty much just me and some friends roasting power rangers and watching tv shows https://discord.gg/E3Twck7
> 
> \- for more ranger bond feels, see a loose tie-in to this chapter of the original team + ranger bonds + og trini's funeral here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/13178904 (trigger warnings are in the beginning notes of the ficlet)
> 
> \- the adoption process that surrounds tommie going from being in foster care to being adopted by the jordans is like.... i made it up ok? they've been skyping for months while she lived w/ a foster family and now she's living w/ them and the adoption's in the process of being finalized... i don't care if that wouldn't actually happen irl, power rangers is already fake
> 
> \- super side note: ALSO not to be political or anything seeing as this is a power rangers fic and i'm primarily a power rangers writer but since tlj is out now and i have to endure this for another two years until jj abrams saves us all, stop reading this fic and unfollow me immediately if u ship r///ylo lmao
> 
> \- **answer in the comments (bc i wanna know):** how'd you first discover Legacy of Power? (if you've been here since the start, i know, it's been a long ass time, i'm sorry if u can't remember and that's also fine) through a friend? through the tags? through seeing me never shut up about it on tumblr? let me know!


	11. Apex Predator

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kim and Zack officially start dating, much to Trini's restrained discomfort. Unbeknownst to the Rangers, a new but familiar face finally arrives in Angel Grove, bringing with her unspeakable evil.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i went back and added in chapter summaries bc it makes things helpful on y'all's side and mine as well so yeah!
> 
> this chapter is on the less... dramatic side but that's because it's a lot of set-up lol

Jason double checks and makes sure that his bedroom door is locked tight then goes to the window and slides it open, leaving just a crack for later as he climbs out onto the balcony. Below, Trini and Zack are both waiting for him in the yard, chatting to themselves. Jason swings his legs over the railing and lands in the grass, his knees leaving sizable indents.

Trini frowns, looking disappointed in him, "Dude, you suck at this."

"I usually just take the front door," he mutters, "Okay, the truck's parked, I locked my door and everything. We're good to go."

He holds his wrist up, like he'd seen Kimberly and Tommy do in the ship earlier, his communicator light but still unfamiliar on his arm, and Trini and Zack follow his lead.

"Hey, just in case we die and our molecules get scattered across the world or whatever," Zack says, abruptly, "I'm open to accepting the 'Hottest Ranger' award. I know I was gonna get it at graduation, but we can always move it up early, given circumstances."

Trini sighs, loudly, and steps on Zack's foot, "You know, I really _do_ hope something goes wrong with your teleportation."

Jason presses the button on the side of his communicator. His vision is swallowed up by a flash of red light that he squeezes his eyes shut at, and his stomach flips several times, sending his nerves into a frenzy. He keeps his mind focused on Kim's house, though, repeating it over and over in his head until the bright light dissipates.

His shoes make contact with flat ground, and Jason warily opens his eyes, immediately wavering. "Whoa," he holds out his hands to keep himself balanced and blinks twice, "That was…" Every inch of his body tingles. He's not quite sure he likes that.

Trini rubs at her head, frowning. Next to her, Zack tries to take a step forward then leans back and falls onto his butt, groaning.

Kim and Billy are already waiting for them, Kim leaning against her car and Billy standing next to her, twiddling his thumbs.

"If you're gonna throw up," Kim says, looking pretty smug while jingling her car keys in her hand, "Do it in the bushes and _not_ on the way to IHOP."

Jason slowly shakes his head, "No, uh, I think I'll be fine." He holds up a finger-- nope, that's two fingers, "Although, to be safe, I think we should wait a few minutes before we get in your car."

"Yeah, that sounds like the best option."

 

* * *

 

They aren't done with their food by the time the waiter comes by and drops off the check, but nevertheless, Kim reaches for it at the same moment Jason does.

She smacks his hand away, and he pouts at her, offended.

"Hey!"

Kim raises her eyebrows at him, "I got it."

He opens his mouth to protest, but Kim untangles herself from Zack's arm draped around her shoulders to snatch the check away from Jason's side of the table. "I _got_ it," she repeats, insistently, and he closes his mouth, settling back into his side of the booth.

Kim pulls her card from the back of her wallet case and leaves it inside the check holder, propping it up at the end of the table. As she leans back against the booth, Zack puts his arm back around her shoulders and picks up one of her leftover French toast sticks, taking a bite of it.

Jason and Billy stare at them.

Trini… well, Kim wouldn't say she's staring, at least.

"What?" Kim raises her eyebrows.

"I mean," Jason gestures between her and Zack and awkwardly mumbles, "You guys-- come on."

She _knows_ where he's going with that. However. Kim rolls her eyes, "Use your words, Jason."

When he just shrugs and makes a series of vague noises, Kim scowls and takes the French toast stick from Zack's hand right when he goes to take another bite. "I don't-- go around-- getting into your business, hm?" she says, pointedly, between chewing and swallowing.

Jason clears his throat, and Trini snickers beside him. On Jason's right, Billy flashes Kim a sympathetic smile -- or maybe apologetic on behalf of Jason's… everything.

Zack leans closer to Kim, his nose brushing against the side of her head. His lips are almost against her ear, the whisper of a touch, as he murmurs, smugly, "Don't mind him, he's just jealous."

Kim has to bite her lower lip to stop herself from visibly shuddering. She catches Trini's unreadable gaze and quickly looks away, feeling a blush creep onto her cheeks.

"What would I be jealous of?" Jason rolls his eyes, obviously still able to hear them from across the table.

"I'm a catch, _duh,_ " Kim and Zack say simultaneously.

They look at each other. Kim blinks.

"I'm a better catch," she states.

"Mmmmm," Zack makes a face at her, "Sure."

"That didn't sound like a very concrete _sure,_ " she tilts her head in interest and arches an eyebrow.

He motions to the other three, "It's a good thing we have our _awesome_ friends to weigh in, don't we?"

Kim snorts, "You've done something to offend everyone at this table, though."

Zack ignores her and puts a finger to her lips that she bats away, "So, guys, who's hotter: me or Kim? There's a right answer, by the way."

The other three Rangers stare at them, the silence stretching, before Trini takes a long drink of water then says to Kim, flatly, "You threw me off of a cliff, so you’re one to talk."

"That was _one_ time!"

 

* * *

 

A flash of yellow light fills Trini’s room as she materializes perfectly on the edge of her bed, smiling to herself as her shoes hit the carpet. Teleporting was gonna make sneaking in and out _so_ much easier. However, she hopes the brief disorientation will wear off in time…

After waiting a moment before she gets up, Trini strips off her clothes and tosses them into her laundry hamper, choosing a t-shirt and shorts as her pajamas for the night. Her door is still locked, and her room appears the way she’d left it. Coast clear. Of course, she’s sure she’d be facing a string of calls and texts from her parents if they _had_ gotten into her room and found her absent.

Walking over to her desk as quietly as she can, aware that her floor creaks about a foot away from her desk and accordingly avoiding that area, Trini unzips her backpack and pulls her books out from today, setting them in a stack on her desk. Her eye catches on the photo taped to the middle of her desk as it always does, which had been why she'd put it there last year instead of just shoving it in a shoebox in her closet or in the trash, but Trini doesn't give it another thought, taking her history textbook and covering the photo with it. She gently flips to the next chapter she'd been planning to read, the pages fluttering the only sound in the room, and sits down, determined to get some reading done before going to bed.

 

* * *

 

Zack insists on them climbing through Kim's window after everyone else teleports home and she drives Zack back to her place, his hand in hers the entire way.

"There's no point," Kim complains as she straightens her clothes out and watches Zack clamber through the window behind her.

"Aesthetic," Zack says, grinning.

She reaches over and fixes his collar. Before she can pull her hand away, he gently takes her wrist and presses a kiss to the palm of her hand.

Oh.

"Zack…" she murmurs, her stomach flipping.

The coy, slightly cocky smile he gives her has her ears heating up.

"Were you planning on taking a bath tonight?" he asks, nodding in the direction of her bathroom.

"Um," Kim nervously bites her lip, butterflies fluttering around in the pit of her stomach, "What if…" She takes his hand in hers and tugs ever so slightly, stepping backwards.

Zack raises his eyebrows. She can see his bravado falter a bit and feels a rush of confidence at that. Zack's one of the first guys she's been with who's actually, genuinely real. Full-time arrogance only looks good for such a short time. It burns out quickly and reveals ugly souls. Zack’s swagger, though, it’s just all in good fun, and Kim knows his soul is good on the inside. He’s proven it to her, time and time again, in just the span of a few days.

"I mean," he says, slowly, "Only if you want to. Just because I've been helping you, I don't… I don't wanna make you uncomfortable or, or feel obligated to, you know."

"Zack?"

"Yeah?"

Kim pulls him closer until they're almost-- She grins, teeth and courage, and tugs on the collar of his shirt, "Take off your clothes already."

 

* * *

 

"Close your eyes." Kim waits until Zack obeys before running her hands through his hair, working her shampoo into the strands. "You know," she murmurs, "You're gonna smell like me tomorrow."

Zack chuckles and smiles, "You say that like it's a bad thing."

"Mm," Kim moves her hands to the back of Zack's head, gently massaging his scalp, "Zack."

He opens his eyes a fraction, "Hm?"

She takes a step closer, careful not to slip, and steadies herself in his hands, which come up to rest on her hips. "Close your eyes," she whispers, again, like she's sharing a secret, this moment, with him.

"Are you gonna close yours?" he questions but does so without waiting for her. She doesn't miss the way he briefly licks his lips.

"Of course."

The steam is a cloud all around them, sticking to her skin, and Kim takes a hesitant breath. Zack's eyes are still closed, and he just stands there, waiting for her, hot water from the showerhead flowing against his back. He waits for her, and he's present with her. And he…

She pulls him closer, and he melts into her touch, leaning down to meet her in the middle. Closing her eyes, Kim kisses him, sighing contentedly at the sensation of his lips on hers. The tension slips from her shoulders as Zack's hands very slightly tighten on her waist. She smiles into the kiss and feels Zack do the same, her heart pounding in her ears.

When they come apart, there is silence but it's soft, not heavy, transparent like the steam that sits between them. Kim opens her mouth, lips parted, trying to calm the racing of her heart. Zack smiles at her, softly. She reaches up and catches a drop of water mixed with shampoo on her thumb before it drips into his eye.

"Thank you," she says, quietly.

"For what?"

She shrugs, not able to find the words that could ever possibly encapsulate everything she wants to say to him right now, "I don't know… just, thank you."

He pauses but then understands and nods, his eyes twinkling, "You're welcome."

 

* * *

 

Zack peers closer at the fist-sized hole in the wall next to Kim's dresser. Kim watches him with her arms crossed, towel still tied around her body, appreciating how her sweatpants -- baggy on her -- hug his hips and end a few inches above his ankles where they usually cover hers. “What happened here?” he asks, quirking an eyebrow at her.

“What d’you think happened?” she rolls her eyes, “It’s obviously a hole the size of my fist. It’s been there for a couple of days, too.”

He tilts his head, “Do you want me to fix it? Because I can.”

Kim blinks and stares at the hole. It’s small, compared to the one in her heart. “No,” she shakes her head, “Leave it.”

Zack shrugs and straightens up, flashing her a cocky grin, “You want me to put a shirt on?”

She takes her time in answering, her eyes slowly raking over his bare chest. The air is different, now, and Kim knows why. It’s one thing for him to bathe her, already, but after showering together, they’re… closer. All connotations aside, it’s not just because she’s seen him naked.

It’s because they were vulnerable in the proximity of her bathtub, the heat and steam between them, all guard left at the door. Together.

Kim strides over to her dresser and rummages through her pajamas, finding an oversized pastel pink shirt that she lightly tosses at him, “Here.”

He glances at it and fakes a pout, “This isn’t really my color.”

“That’s too bad,” she says, sympathetically, even as she pulls out a pair of underwear and a black sleepshirt and puts them on, taking off her towel. The sleepshirt dangles and reaches just below her knees.

Zack scowls at her.

“What?” she grins, cheekily, and brushes past him to go blow dry her hair, “You don’t think I look good?”

“I think black looks better on _me,_ though!” he calls after her.

Kim can see Zack in the mirror putting on her shirt and flopping onto her bed and smiles to herself. She does have to admit, though, that he looks good in pink, too.

 

* * *

 

One of her parents came home minutes ago and retreated into their bedroom. She thinks it was her father, judging by the heaviness of his footsteps on the stairs. Kim could check, but she doesn’t quite care to.

Of course, she and Zack had to slip into silence the moment they heard the alarm downstairs beep, pausing their conversation, but they’d started another one up, quietly, while lying in her bed.

Kim traces a finger against Zack’s jawline, enjoying the way he clenches and unclenches his jaw as she does, the muscles tensing and relaxing under her touch.

He brushes his leg against hers, and goosebumps rise on her skin at the contact.

“Your feet are cold,” she whispers.

"Sorry," he murmurs, but the smile on his lips says he isn't, "Maybe you can warm them up."

Kim scowls, "I'm not going anywhere near your feet until you put socks on."

He grins, smugly, and tilts his head, "My lips are cold, too, actually."

"Oh? Are they really?"

"Yeah, really."

She leans over, her hair gently tickling his cheeks as she gives him a brief, soft kiss. Pulling back, Kim licks her lips, tasting her mint toothpaste that he'd borrowed just half an hour ago. "Mm," she says, scrunching her nose in doubt, "They felt pretty warm to me."

Zack puts his hand on the back of her neck and pulls her down for another kiss, this one long enough that Kim's almost tempted to just let herself fall down into his arms. "Thanks to you, obviously," he says, smiling sweetly when he pulls away.

Kim clears her throat and glances elsewhere, her ears burning.

"So, um," she starts but falls silent when Zack slips his hand into hers, intertwining their fingers.

"Use your words, Kim," he teases with a wink, and she grabs one of her pillows with her free hand and smacks him in the face with it.

She pouts at him, "I was _getting_ there."

"Uh-huh."

"So, we're… a thing now."

"Wow, you're _really_ bad at this."

Kim groans and buries her face in the nearest pillow, blushing, "Mmmmmmphf."

Zack shifts and leans closer to her, "Hm? What was that?"

She picks her head up and looks at him, murmuring rather shyly. "You make me nervous," she repeats.

He smirks and kisses her on the nose, chuckling when she scrunches up her nose and blushes harder. "I make Kimberly Hart nervous?" When she nods, his smirk widens. "Good," he says, "I like making my girlfriend nervous."

Her heart skips a beat. "You're lucky you're cute," she says, pouting.

Zack shrugs, "I sure am."

She rolls her eyes, "Real modest."

"Well, you're cute, too, of course," he says, smiling as he leans up and gives her another kiss.

 

* * *

 

Kim sees Zack glancing at her out of the corner of her eye. It's the third time in the past couple of minutes, and while he _could_ just be looking at her, she feels like it's not. Kim sets her phone down and looks at him. "What?"

"Well," Zack clears his throat, "I was looking through your Instagram, and I think we should… post something."

Raising her eyebrows, she chuckles, amused, "Oh? And why should we do that?"

"Because… I'm hotter than your exes," Zack states, proudly.

"Just the one ex," Kim says, rolling her eyes, "And I keep meaning to delete those pics."

Zack shakes his head, "Nah, you should keep 'em on there. I look better than Ty, anyway, _especially_ before you knocked his tooth out."

Kim closes her eyes and mentally curses Jason. "They put it back," she groans, letting her head fall back against her pillow. She feels Zack reach over her to grab her phone but doesn't move.

"What's your password?" he asks.

"Day we became Rangers."

He scoffs, "You expect me to remember that?" Still, she hears the familiar click of her phone unlocking. "If you're not gonna open your eyes," Zack says after a moment, "I'll just post a pic of you like that. Instead of, you know, something cute and couple-y."

Kim opens her eyes and sees that Zack's pulled up the Instagram app on her phone. The front-facing camera is on and pointed at her.

"Smile," Zack says, softly, and kisses her.

She closes her eyes and smiles into the kiss, hearing the camera click just once.

When Zack pulls away and glances at her phone, Kim laughs and shakes her head, settling into the covers. "How's it look?"

"Well," he wiggles his eyebrows and hands her her phone back, "We're both incredibly photogenic, so… great."

"Nice." Kim's thumbs hover over the keyboard, and she glances up at Zack, whose attention is back on his own phone, mulling over a caption in her head.

 **_kimhart14_ ** _@zackattack hope you can keep up ;) <3 @jscott11 @ttttrini @bcranston _

Almost immediately after Kim hits post, she hears Zack snort, "Problem?"

He rolls his eyes and flashes her a sly grin, "Oh, I can keep up. No hetero, babe."

"Ugh, you're the worst."

 

* * *

 

Trini had only just set her phone down on her bedside table when the screen flashed back to life with a new notification. She huffs and tells herself not to check it and just go to sleep, but… maybe if it's just something quick.

Reaching for her phone, she slumps back onto her pillow and unlocks the screen, already seeing that it's a notification from Kim on Instagram. Trini squints against the bright glare of her phone as she opens up the app.

 **_kimhart14_ ** _@zackattack hope you can keep up ;) <3 @jscott11 @ttttrini @bcranston _

**_zackattack_ ** _@kimhart14 always babe :P_

 **_jscott11_ ** _congrats on being official lmao_

 **_kimberlyannharts_ ** _Ew, gross :/_

**_7 likes_ **

**_10 minutes ago_ **

Trini pauses for a moment, just staring at the photo, boring holes into her phone screen. Her mind hits at a blank at where Kim and Zack's lips meet, where the hint of a smile is evident on Kim's face. She swallows, dryly, noticing that Zack is wearing a pastel pink shirt that is _definitely_ not his.

Taking a deep breath, she forces down a feeling of discomfort that she doesn't quite want to confront right now and taps the photo twice. A red heart briefly pops up on the screen, and she quickly puts her phone back on her bedside table, wanting that to be the end of that.

Lying back down in bed isn't enough, though, and as Trini stares at her ceiling, trying to clear her mind and just go the _fuck_ to sleep, she grumbles to herself, wondering, aimlessly, why they were on Kim's bed and why Zack was wearing Kim's shirt and why Kim's shirt was _black_ and she knows _why_ but--

"You can't just fucking let it go, can you?" she mutters to herself, scrambling out of bed. Her t-shirt and shorts are good enough, decent enough, but Trini grabs a jacket from her closet, pulling it on and zipping it up. She picks her phone up and shoots off a quick text.

_[T 2:08 AM] hey im coming over_

Without waiting for a reply, she tucks her phone into her jacket pocket and puts her communicator on, clicking the latch around her wrist. The metal band, while cold against her skin, can't wake her up any more than Kim's post already did. She closes her eyes, ignoring the buzzing in the back of her mind, and presses the button on the side of her communicator, just as her phone vibrates.

Yellow lights fill her vision, and she keeps her eyes squeezed shut until she feels the carpet of Jason's bedroom underneath her bare feet. Trini chances a look and opens her eyes.

Jason draws his bedsheet up to his bare chest, self-consciously, and nods at her. "You should check your phone," he mutters.

She rolls her eyes, "I'm already here." Nevertheless, she does.

_[JS 2:08 AM] um wait what_

_[JS 2:08 AM] trini what????_

"You could… not be?" Jason shrugs and gives her an incredulous look, "Why-- what are you doing here?"

"I need to talk," she sighs.

He glances around as if there's anyone else there she would want to talk to. "Um… to me?"

"Yes, you moron, to you."

"Okay," Jason pouts, "No need to be mean." He throws the covers back and gets out of bed, "Do you wanna sit? Here, I'll--" He shoves some clothes on the side of his bed to the floor then thinks better of that and kicks them underneath his bed.

Trini rolls her eyes and sits down on the edge of the bed as Jason goes to put on a shirt from his dresser.

"What's so important it couldn't wait until, I don't know, a normal time of the day?" he asks.

"You're still awake," she says, flatly.

"I was _about_ to go to sleep."

She raises an eyebrow at him, and he sheepishly rubs his neck before sitting down next to her.

"Okay, what's going on?"

Trini decides not to beat around the bush. It's like ripping off a bandaid, after all, and she's kinda been trying to peel it off slowly and then leaving it to come back to later. "Do you like Kim?"

Jason blinks, surprised, and crosses his arms over his chest. Defensive, but tells her everything she needs to know without him saying anything. "I-- Why would you ask-- Did you come over just to ask me that?"

She sighs, almost frustratedly, "Don't fuck around, and just answer the question, Jason."

"I-- Okay, fine," he shrugs, looking for the words, "I… did, I guess. Kinda do. I don't know. I had a crush on her before we fought Rita, you know. But, then, Billy…" He pauses, so Trini says it for him.

"Billy died."

"Yeah, uh," Jason rubs the back of his neck again, "I just didn't really… think too much about it-- liking Kim, I mean. Seemed kinda dumb after everything we went through. Like, you know, we save Angel Grove or the world or whatever and I'm off thinking about having a crush on a girl? Priorities, you know."

Trini raises her eyebrows. She had her own thoughts about that, but. "You saw Kim's post?" she asks, quietly, but she knows he did. He'd liked it and left a comment.

"That why you're here?"

She clenches her jaw, frustrated with herself, and looks out Jason's window at the night sky. Somewhere out there, Kim is probably cuddling up to Zack, and she hates that it bothers her. "I like Kim," she says all in one breath.

"Oh, okay," Jason mumbles. He sounds slightly surprised, but actually not as much as she'd expected.

"You don't sound _too_ surprised," she says with a brief chuckle.

"I mean, I had a feeling… I just didn't expect you to come over and, you know, tell… _me._ "

Trini swallows and plays with the zipper on her jacket, averting her gaze to the floor, "Kim knows."

"Oh. Oh, okay, that explains so much, now."

"Yeah," she says, dryly, "I'd imagine it would."

Jason shifts next to her, and for a second, she worries that this -- this vulnerability that he's not used to from her -- is making him uncomfortable and she clears her throat. "I should go," she mutters, making to get up and leave.

"Wait," he whispers, reaching out for her sleeve but pulling his hand back before he touches her, "Trini, just wait. You didn't-- you didn't come here for just that."

She huffs and shoves her hands into her jacket pockets, trying to shrink into herself, "Look, Jay, it's fine. I'm just gonna sleep it off."

"Trini," he says, plainly. His eyes are blue and pleading, and she grumbles to herself as she relents. It's not that she can't resist people pushing her, but it's more of… she knows someone like Jason will continue to pester her about it because he _cares_ and the best way to prevent that pestering is to deal with it earlier than later.

Unfortunately.

"It's just," she sighs, glancing up at his ceiling to avoid looking at him, "There… are things I can't tell you because it's not really my place to tell, _but_ Kim and I have talked and… she likes me. She likes Zack, too. Obviously."

"Okay," Jason says, slowly, his brow furrowing as he tries to figure out where she's going with this, "So… I'm guessing there's more."

"I'm not ready," she forces out, feeling the words leave her like the air getting knocked out of her lungs, "I like her, but you know, I'm just-- I just don't _feel_ ready, but I…" Trini frustratedly runs a hand through her hair, "I already told her that I didn't care if she and Zack got together 'cause, you know, whatever makes her happy."

"But, now, you're jealous," Jason concludes.

"I mean," she shrugs, helplessly, "I guess? Kinda. A little bit. She even told me she didn't want to make things weird with us or whatever by being with Zack, and I was chill with it, you know?"

Trini returns to her seat next to him, the mattress sinking as she slumps down with a tiny bit more force than necessary. Burying her face in her hands, she groans as quietly as she dares with the rest of Jason's family asleep. "Mostly, it's just-- I feel like shit. Like, I told her I needed time and she and Zack get together and… it makes me wonder if I'm missing my chance. By needing time. By asking her to wait for me to… figure all my shit out and everything."

There's silence for a few minutes as Jason processes her words and thinks about what to say. Trini closes her eyes and waits, finding comfort in burying her face in her soft, warm jacket sleeves.

"Well," Jason murmurs, and Trini glances at him, trying and only barely succeeding at keeping her emotions at bay, "I think that if, um, if Kim _does_ like you and if you asked her to give you some time and wait for you, then you haven't missed your 'chance', so to speak. You'll have more chances, I'm sure, and Kim isn't the kind of person who'd go back on something she says, especially something like that."

"Doesn't feel like it," Trini says, grinding her teeth together, "It feels like I keep fucking things up."

"Hey," he gently places a hand on her shoulder, and she tenses but relaxes when he continues, "I know what that feels like, but… I promise you, you aren't doing as bad as you think you are, you know? You're doing way more good than harm."

Trini sighs and nods, resigned and knowing that Jason's words won't feel like they're doing any good for her until at least after she wakes up tomorrow -- or in five hours. “Thanks, Jason.”

“Yeah, of course.” He nudges her shoulder with his, “It’s what we do. Help each other out, right?”

“Right.” She runs her hands over her face and stifles a yawn, “I should let you get to bed now.”

“Oh, uh,” Jason looks unsure, “Do you wanna stay? ‘Cause I wouldn’t mind giving you the company. You know, either here or I could come over.”

“You’re not allowed to see my bedroom,” she jokes with a straight face, “It’s for level four friends only.”

He frowns, “What level am _I?_ ”

Trini doesn’t give him the satisfaction of an answer and chuckles, getting up to go over to his bean bag chair.

“Trini,” Jason whispers, “Take the bed.”

“No, it’s fine,” she waves a hand and collapses onto the bean bag chair, sinking into it.

“ _Trini,_ ” he says, insistently, pointing at his bed, “That’s an order.”

She rolls her eyes and flips him a middle finger, “Screw your orders.”

 

* * *

 

The ringtone of her alarm stirs Tommie from her sleep, and she rolls over onto her stomach, muffledly groaning into a pillow. She reaches out, blindly, and grabs her phone, tapping at random places on the screen until the alarm stops. With a sigh, she presses her face into the pillow, trying to commit to memory how soft and comfy it is, how much she's gonna miss living with the Cantors.

She becomes vaguely aware of the sounds of clattering in the kitchen and takes a deep breath, forcing herself to get up. Tommie grabs her phone from Reece's nightstand and glances around his room as she leaves to go to the kitchen, telling herself that it's not the last time she's gonna see it. Yet, at least.

Jogging down the stairs and padding into the kitchen in her socks, Tommie rubs the sleepiness out of her eyes and goes over to give Gwen a hug. "Morning," she mumbles, "What's for breakfast?"

Gwen ruffles Tommie's hair and gives her a smile, "I figured we could make your favorite this morning together. Since it's a special occasion."

"Yeah," Tommie nods, not feeling particularly committed to an enthusiastic response at this hour of the morning, "Sounds good."

"Go wake Reece up, will you? I'll get started on the batter."

Tommie murmurs her acknowledgement and trudges over to the living room couch where Reece is curled up underneath a blanket, drooling onto his pillow.

"Ugh, why're you so gross?" she mutters, poking him in the shoulder, "Hey, slobbermouth, get up."

"Be nice," Gwen calls from the kitchen.

Tommie waits until Gwen goes to the pantry to grab the ingredients she needs and then, when Gwen's back is turned, grabs the edge of Reece's blanket with both hands and yanks as hard as she can, sending him tumbling to the floor with a loud _thud._

"Ow!" Reece wakes up with a groan, glaring up at her, "Wha-- the hell was that for?"

She shrugs, "Felt like it."

He sighs and lets his head thump against the floor, "What's for breakfast?"

"Waffles."

"Blueberry?"

"Yep."

"Oh, nice," he glances, warily, at the hand she offers to him then takes it and gets to his feet, "Your favorite."

"Yeah," Tommie cracks a smile, "'Cause I'm special."

He rolls his eyes and motions at her then at the blanket in her hands, scowling, "I'm not gonna miss this. Or that."

She chuckles and throws the blanket over his head as he heads for the bathroom, "I definitely will."

 

* * *

 

A loud knock on her bedroom door jolts Kim awake. She blinks several times, yawning and trying to get a hold on her surroundings. Zack's arm is over her waist, his head on her shoulder, and she wiggles for a second to see how much she can move. Which, as it turns out, is not much.

"Kim?" Her dad's voice drifts through the door, and she curses under her breath, still trying to get her arm out from under Zack's body. The doorknob rattles. She breathes a sigh of relief when it doesn't budge; Kim _had_ locked it last night, but she'd just woken up and the in-the-moment fear that she actually _hadn't_ is all too real.

"Uh, hold on!" she calls out, "Let me… put on some clothes!"

_What? You can do better than that._

She manages to free her arm, but doing so stirs Zack awake, who sleepily smiles at her.

"Hey, beautiful," he says, and she immediately shushes him by clamping a hand over his mouth. That properly wakes him up, and he widens his eyes at her in confused questioning.

Kim jerks her thumb at the door, just in time for her dad to knock once again, just for good measure. "Gimme a sec!" she says then takes her hand off of Zack's mouth.

He puts a finger to his lips and nods.

Scrambling to her feet, Kim glances back to see Zack quietly getting out of bed and crawling underneath her bed. She mentally prepares herself before unlocking and opening the door a crack, peering through at her dad. "Uh, hey. Morning."

Ted smiles at her, "Morning, sweetie."

She forces down the feeling of discomfort in her stomach and runs a hand through her hair, "What's, uh, what's up?"

"I wanted to see if you'd like to get breakfast," her dad says, and Kim immediately frowns, "I could drive you to detention afterward."

"Um," she swallows, her throat suddenly dry, and instinctively lies, "Well, I was… actually planning on getting breakfast with some friends."

Her dad nods, "Oh, okay. Rain check, then?"

"Yeah," Kim answers, uncertainly, not wanting to commit to anything concrete, "I guess." She clears her throat a little, "Are you, um, going anywhere today?"

"Mhm." Kim's heart clenches in her chest. "I have some errands to run. Grocery shopping and work things."

"Oh, cool."

"There's a soccer game at Angel Grove later tonight that I was thinking about going to," Ted comments, casually, and Kim raises an eyebrow, wondering when her dad's ever cared about going to a game that she wasn't cheering in, "If you wanted to come with me."

She shrugs, wanting so desperately to close the door, but she has to find a good point to do so first, "Maybe. Depends on what I'm doing later. I'll, uh, let you know."

"Alright. Do you need a ride to where you're meeting your friends?"

"No, no, I don't, I've got it, love you, bye," Kim forces a smile and hastily closes the door, locking it as her shoulders shake.

She senses Zack quietly coming up behind her and takes a deep breath, turning around to bury herself in his arms. He's there, waiting, ready, always, and holds her without saying anything. Kim trembles when Zack kisses the top of her head and tightens her grip on his waist, holding onto him for dear life. If she could, she'd be crying into his shirt, chest heaving, breath strained and shallow, but she hardly has the energy for that anymore.

 

* * *

 

Jason is already up minutes before Trini's phone alarm goes off, and when she comes to, shifting in his bean bag chair and causing it to loudly crinkle, he glances at her, his toothbrush half in his mouth and a pile of dirty clothes in his hands.

Trini squints at him, "Are you cleaning your room? It's, like, six in the morning."

He pauses, tosses the clothes into the hamper next to his desk, and takes his toothbrush out of his mouth for a second. "I have a guest in my room," he says, slowly, "Gotta look decent."

Trini snorts, "You've got a real weird sense of hospitality."

He shrugs and leaves to go to the bathroom, closing the door behind him in case one of his parents or Pearl passes by and sees Trini just chilling in his bedroom. Jason rinses his mouth and combs his hair, wrestling with a particularly rowdy strand of hair that won't stop dangling in front of his eyes before giving up and just going back to his room.

As he shuts the door, he nods at Trini, who's still stretching the tiredness out of her bones, "You gonna go soon?"

"Uh," she shrugs, "Yeah, probably. I've gotta get some stuff from my room. Backpack. Put on actual clothes. You know, the like."

"You want a ride?"

In answer, Trini holds her wrist up in the air, the metal of her communicator reflecting the sunlight beginning to stream through the window around his room.

"You want me to come with you?" he tries again, "We can bond."

Trini frowns in disgust but doesn't budge from her seat. She sighs, "Fine. You ready to go?"

“Mm, lemme get dressed, and then, yeah.” Jason shuffles through the clothes in his closet, picking out a red graphic tee and a jean jacket. He glances through the pairs of jeans he has in his closet, frowning when he can't find a shade that works.

"There's a pair next to your bed," Trini pipes up.

He glances at her, but she doesn't look away from her phone, "What?"

"You're looking for something darker than the jacket," she says, nonchalantly, "There's a pair next to your bed." She motions with her foot.

Finding the pair she's talking about and checking that it's wearable, Jason nods at her then scrambles off to the bathroom to get dressed. Just to try again, he messes with the strand of hair that won't stay, grumbling when his attempts just worsen things.

"Nice hair," Trini comments when he comes back into his room. He scowls at her, and she nods at his shirt, "Didn't figure you liked Star Trek."

"What, just 'cause…" He glances around his room, about to tell Trini that his personality's deeper than sports, and stops at the football posters obnoxiously plastered all above his bed. "I need new posters," he mutters.

The smile she cracks is small but soft, "We'll get you some eventually."

 

* * *

 

Kim hears her dad pull out of the driveway just as her window slides open and Zack clambers through, his backpack in his hands.

“I was worried you’d run into my dad,” she says, sighing in relief.

Zack shrugs, "Almost did. I had to hide behind some bushes when he walked out the front door."

Kim chuckles, reaching over to pluck a leaf out of his hair, "Explains this, then." She flicks the leaf into her trash can as Zack sticks his tongue out at her.

"Uh," Zack unzips his backpack and pulls out a pile of clothes, tossing them onto her bed, "I wasn't sure what you would… like? So, I tried for, you know, not trash. But, you know, you should really do your laundry."

"I'll… do it later," Kim mumbles, evasively, grabbing a black button-up and a pair of skinny jeans from the pile, "I mean, I have a perfectly generous _boyfriend_ who lets me wear his clothes, so…"

"We should do your laundry tonight," he glances at the overflowing laundry hamper sitting in her open closet.

Making a vague noise of acknowledgement, Kim shrugs, grabs a bra from her dresser, and goes into the bathroom to change. "We can do it Monday night," she says through the closed door as she undresses and tries Zack's clothes on. He's taller and more built than she is by _far,_ so when she walks back into her bedroom, he bursts out laughing.

"Wow, and I thought Trini was small… she'd probably disappear in my clothes," Zack snorts.

Kim cracks a wide smile but points a threatening finger at him when he pulls his phone out, "Hey."

"Oh, come on, you're going to detention, anyway," he pouts, "Just one Snapchat story!"

Exasperatedly sighing at him, she rolls up the cuffs of Zack's jeans, trying to make them look less… well, long on her. There's not much she can do about the shirt besides tuck it in and hope for the best. That is, after all, her motto in life.

"Well," she asks, doing a twirl for him and laughing, "What d'you think?"

Zack shrugs, "I mean, I've never had a girlfriend wear my clothes before, so…"

Kim steps up to him and puts a hand on his chest, leaning up on her toes to give him a slow kiss. When she pulls back, she bites her lower lip and smiles, coyly, "And now?"

He clears his throat and smirks back at her, "I guess I could get used to it."

 

* * *

 

Jason's never been in Trini's room before, so when the bright red spots clear from his vision, he blinks, taking in everything all at once but also slowly glancing at _everything_ as if it's the one and only time he'll get to see Trini's personal space.

Which, to be honest, could be entirely true.

"Does this mean I'm a level four friend?" he whispers, and she flips him off.

Technically, that wasn't a no.

Her room is significantly neater than his, obviously -- that's the first thing Jason notices. Clothes aren't strewn around the floor, and her wardrobe, while there are some clothes hanging out of it, isn't a straight-up mess like his closet is.

His eyes land on the wall next to her wardrobe and smiles at the crude drawings of the Power Rangers over the new coat of paint. "That's cute," he remarks, "Your brothers do that?"

"Yep."

"They didn't draw your, uh," he motions at his chest and chuckles, "Unfortunate armor."

"As it should be," Trini mutters with an eyeroll, opening her wardrobe and glancing through her clothes, "They're kids." She grabs a yellow and white baseball tee and a pair of washed jeans then stares at Jason until he gets the message.

"Oh, right, got it," he turns around and pointedly stares at her desk while she changes. There's a small rubber band ball next to a potted succulent on her desk that Jason picks up, distractedly squeezing it.

From behind him, he can hear shuffling as Trini gets dressed. "Don't take that apart," she grumbles.

Jason sets the rubber band ball back down. "Wasn't going to. You like plants, huh?" he asks, taking a closer look at her mini succulents and… cactuses? Cacti? He's pretty sure it's cacti.

Trini wordlessly appears beside him, startling him, and mutters in a mocking tone, "Yeah, girl who spends most of her time hanging out at the mine and talking walks in the woods likes plants? Groundbreaking."

"Why are you _so_ mean?" Jason asks, incredulously.

She quietly chuckles and reaches for her history textbook, closing it and putting it in her backpack on the floor. With the textbook gone, Jason spots the photo taped to her desk -- it's hard not to, seeing as it's sort of the centerpiece of the desk. In the photo is Trini, off to the side but still part of the camera's subject, smiling in a way that Jason so rarely sees, and next to her, arguably the star of the camera, is a girl with golden hair, hazel eyes, and a radiant smile. The girl's arm is around Trini's shoulder, and the question crosses Jason's mind of who she is and what relation she has to Trini that a photo of them is taped to her desk.

He doesn't voice it aloud -- doesn't think he has the right to -- but as Trini finishes putting her stuff into her backpack, she straightens up and notices him staring at the photo, her mouth drawing into a thin line. Jason quickly looks away, feeling quite awkward, and shoves his hands into his pockets.

Trini gazes at him for a long moment, silently analyzing him, and he tries his best to stay still under her sharp eyes. Finally, she walks away and goes to grab a beanie from her wardrobe, and he lets out a soft, tension-relieving sigh.

As she puts the beanie on, she looks at him, her features unreadable, her voice quiet. "Summer," she says, simply.

"What?" he raises his eyebrows, waiting for elaboration.

"Her name," Trini doesn't go any further, "Summer."

He stands there, expecting her to keep going, but she just brushes past him and grabs her backpack, slinging it over her shoulder. "You should text the others," she murmurs, casually moving the conversation forward and Jason just lets himself get swept up in the flow of the current, "See if they wanna get breakfast or something. We can go pick Billy up, too."

"Um," he blinks at her then nods, pulling his jacket sleeve back so that he can use his communicator, "Yeah, alright, that sounds good."

 

* * *

 

Billy's phone vibrates on the kitchen countertop just as he opens the pantry door to grab a box of cereal. Humming to himself, he picks his phone up and glances at it.

**_Power Geeks™_ **

_[JS 6:14 AM] you guys wanna get breakfast?_

_[JS 6:14 AM] idk like java city or something_

_[KH 6:14 AM] java city SUCKS!_

_[ZT 6:14 AM] wat she means is y/y_

_[KH 6:14 AM] no you can drive yourself u hoe._

_[KH 6:14 AM] bye losers i'm going to starbucks._

He's about to type out a reply when a message pops up on his screen from Jason.

_[JS 6:16 AM] hey me and trini are swinging by to pick you up_

_[BC 6:16 AM] Cool! Thanks._

_[JS 6:17 AM] no problem see you in 20_

 

* * *

 

As Jason, Billy, and Trini walk into the Java City on Fountainview, Zack flags them down from a table he and Kim have grabbed in the corner. Jason spots at least two strange things off of the bat. Firstly, Zack has a cup of Java City coffee in front of him, but Kim has two -- not one, but _two_ \-- Starbucks cups in front of her.

"Did you _seriously_ go to Starbucks?" Jason asks, raising his eyebrows. Sure, he prefers Starbucks, but also… he prefers not to inconvenience himself. Much.

Kim scoffs as if that's even a question, "Yeah, duh. Didn't you read my text? 'Bye, losers, I'm going to Starbucks.' Come on, Jason, get with the program."

"Don't worry, dude," Zack says with a roll of his eyes, nudging the cup that's not in Kim's hand toward Jason, "She got you a vanilla bean frappe."

"Oh, nice," Jason sits down at the table while Billy and Trini go to order their own drinks, "How the hell did you get here before us and _still_ have time to get Starbucks?"

"She ran all the yellow lights," Zack mumbles, frowning.

"Yellow doesn't mean stop," Kim mutters back under her breath. She takes an innocent sip of her drink and shrugs.

Jason makes a noise in the back of his throat, "She's… not wrong."

Zack stares at him and shakes his head, "I don't think we should trust you to drive us around… You _have_ gotten into an accident before."

"That was a special case."

" _You're_ a special case."

"You're _both_ special cases," Trini says as she comes over, drink in hand, and sits down next to Jason, leaving Billy to fill in the chair between her and Kim.

Billy looks at Kim and Zack and tilts his head, smiling, "I guess congratulations are in order, right?"

Kim grins, shyly ducking her head, as Zack nudges her shoulder, "Yeah, thanks, Billy."

Which brings Jason to the second thing he'd noticed when walking through the door. "Are you wearing Zack's shirt?" he asks, curiously, nodding at Kim's outfit.

She clears her throat and defensively crosses her arms over the button-up that's definitely a size or two too big for her. "I haven't… done my laundry yet," she mumbles, petulantly, "I'm out of clean clothes."

Trini snorts and hides her smirk by taking a sip of her drink. "Here's a great idea," she says in a smug voice, "Maybe you should do your laundry."

"Can none of you just let me live?" Kim huffs, "Jesus Christ."

 

* * *

 

Tommie's applying the finishing touches with her mascara when Reece pokes his head into the bathroom.

"Hey, I've got something to show you," he says, startling her into smudging mascara onto her eyelid.

"You _asshole,_ " she mutters, huffing, and sets the wand down on the counter, wiping the mascara off of her eye before turning to him, "What?"

He gestures at the mirror, "You can _literally_ see me coming--"

"I was focused," she grumbles, "What is it?"

He motions at her to follow him and quickly walks to his bedroom, "Come on -- before Mom sees."

"Fine. Better be good." Tommie enters Reece's bedroom and watches as he gets on his knees and reaches underneath his bed for a small box wrapped in brown paper. When he offers the box to her, she squints at it and raises an eyebrow at him, "Is this the wrapping paper from your birthday present?"

"I recycle," he says with a straight face.

"Uh-huh," she holds the box up to her ear and shakes it; whatever's inside it softly _thuds,_ "What's this?"

"What's it _look_ like? Going away present, duh."

Tommie disgustedly frowns, "Ugh, I don't wanna remember you."

"Shut up and open it or I'll go return it."

Curiously, she rips open the wrapping paper, absently handing it to Reece who rolls his eyes and tosses it into the trash can by his bed. Opening the box, she shakes it, and a brand new pocket knife falls out into her hand, its green blade bright and eye-catchingly new. The handle is sleek and black, and Tommie grips it loosely, pointing it away from the both of them as she flicks it open. The three-inch blade easily springs to life. She nods, appreciatively, "You didn't have to, but--"

"But, you love it?" Reece smiles.

Tommie shrugs to keep him on his toes, "Eh, the color's a little flashy, but I guess it doesn't matter as long as it's still good for stabbing."

Reece snorts and rolls his eyes, "Yeah, okay, edgelord." He playfully nudges her shoulder as she closes the knife and puts it back in the box, "I wanted to get you a newer one, anyway. Just make sure you put that in your luggage, and don't let Mom see it."

She gazes at the box for a moment longer than pulls him into a hug, mumbling into his shirt, "Thanks, Reece."

He pats her on the shoulder when she pulls away and clears her throat, "Hey, no crying 'til we get to the airport."

"I-- wasn't about to cry," she mutters, indignantly.

"Yeah, sure," he chuckles, "Go finish doing your make-up then you can cry all you want on the drive."

Tommie rolls her eyes and threateningly waves the box at him, the knife thunking around on the inside, "Don't make me stab you."

"Ooh, I'm so scared."

"Fuck off, jeez."

 

* * *

 

Halfway through the drive to school, Zack reaches over and hits pause on Kim's phone, stopping her music from coming out of the speakers. Kim doesn't take her hands off of the wheel, but she chances a quick glance at him, raising her eyebrows, "You can plug your phone in, if you want."

"Uh, no," Zack says, quickly, "I just wanted to talk to you."

"Okay," Kim furrows her brow, uncertainly, and slows down, braking for a stop sign, "What about? Should I… be worried?"

Zack shakes his head, "No, no, no, nothing bad, I guess."

"That was a lot of no's."

"Yeah, um," he clears his throat then pulls his backpack from beside his feet onto his lap, reaching into one of the pockets and pulling an envelope out, "I found this in the mailbox this morning when I went home to get my stuff."

Kim waits for her turn to go at the stop sign but spares another glance at him as she accelerates, "What is it?"

"I don't really know how to say it--"

The tension is in the air is starting to suffocate her already, so Kim quickly interrupts him, "Just say it."

He falls silent. She mentally counts the number of breaths that they both take until he opens his mouth and speaks, trying to keep herself from stressing out. One… two… three… four…

"My mom and I are gonna lose the house."

Five.

Kim's next breath is knocked out of her lungs, and she almost slams on the brakes in surprise but stops herself at the last second, if only for the fact that doing so would make the car behind her abruptly smash into her trunk. She keeps her eyes on the road, afraid to look over at Zack, and shakily exhales, "Wha-- what?"

"I, um, I found out on Thursday," he begins, slowly, "After I left your place, before we met up at school. There was a, uh, a letter in the mail about how… the park is being bought out." Kim hears him clear his throat a few times but forces herself to not look at him; she doesn't want to, feels like it's wrong to do so right now, so she keeps driving, her fingers gripping the wheel a little tighter. “That’s why I was kinda being a dick to you and to Billy, too. I-- I didn’t wanna say anything yet, but… it was hard to keep it to myself and that made me take it out on you. I’m sorry.”

She can’t possibly hold that against him, now, even though she’d been hurt in the moment. “It’s okay,” Kim says, softly, “I forgive you.”

Zack continues, silently acknowledging her acceptance, "Real estate's tanked since, you know, Rita attacked. People are freaking out, I guess, and, um, I don't know, they're hoping a brand new apartment complex will get people to wanna keep living here."

Kim gapes, her brow furrowing in frustration, "I-- Just because people lost their homes doesn't mean you should be losing yours, too."

"Yeah, well…" Zack trails off and sighs.

"Who… who's 'they'?" she asks, quietly, "Who bought the park out?"

The chuckle that leaves Zack's mouth is dark and hollow, and Kim doesn't understand until he says it, "River Renovations."

She pauses, "River-- As in… Emily's mom?"

Zack doesn't answer that but keeps talking, playing with the envelope in his hands, crinkling the paper between his fingers, "This one came this morning. Talks about how everyone who lives in Melody's gonna be compensated and stuff. Like, money for relocation or if we wanna move into the complex when it’s done or, I don't know, it's--" He sighs, heavily, "Whatever. Stupid."

Kim flinches, just slightly, as Zack thumps his head on the passenger headrest, and she swallows, not quite sure to say. "I'm-- I'm sorry, Zack," she whispers, feeling incredibly useless and hating it. Her heart twists uncomfortably in her chest, and she sighs, knowing just how ineffective her words are in a situation like this. Just like how sympathy isn't going to fix her parents' marriage, it's not going to fix this, either.

Zack scoffs, flippantly, "Why're you saying sorry? It's not your signature stamped on this letter."

The thing is -- the thing Kim keeps her mouth shut for, biting down on her lower lip almost hard enough to draw blood -- that she… does know that signature. Not well and not _entirely,_ but having brushed past Emily when their social circles still overlapped and _especially_ having been closer friends than the vague acquaintances they were now, Kim knows a thing or two about Rachel Jordan. Mostly business things, like that what used to be the old, run-down Wiggy Woggle Arcade that stuck around for so long simply for the nostalgia eventually got bought out by River Renovations and replaced by a bar and grill that Kim doesn't remember the name of, but that, too, became the Krispy Kreme that's now a hole in the ground.

The Juice Bar, too, the one on Fountainview that she's heard Kimberly mention -- that now sits, abandoned, with a sign on the front door claiming it as property of Rachel's company. Although, in all fairness, Kim can't really remember a time where the Angel Grove Youth Center Gym and Juice Bar was a hotspot for anyone, really. Passing by it throughout the years, she had always felt like it belonged to another time. Definitely not the one they were in, now, with people too busy and preoccupied with their phones and lives to choose a nostalgic-looking, vintage-styled juice bar over a quick-and-easy Starbucks or McDonald's.

She doesn't know exactly how she feels about it -- that watching something get bought out and replaced by something, arguably, more beneficial for the community is easy, _simple,_ when it doesn't affect her, doesn't intrude on her life. But, now, it does, but the moment a spark of anger flickers inside of her, she remembers who's on the other side, and a sense of confliction snuffs that spark out.

"I know it's not," Kim murmurs, apologetically, "But, I'm… I'm still sorry."

"Yeah," Zack picks her phone up from where it sits in the cupholder, presses play, resuming Kim's music, and settles back into his seat. He says nothing more after that as her playlist starts drifting through the speakers, so Kim takes that as a sign that the conversation is over and keeps driving.

 

* * *

 

It only takes about fifteen minutes of detention for a chaotic five-way game of tic-tac-toe to start. The game isn't going anywhere, really, and Billy is the only one playing with actual strategy yet someone else -- usually Zack -- keeps messing him up.

The order goes Jason, Kim, Zack--

Trini snaps her hand up and catches the note flying right at her face without looking up from her history textbook. She spares only a glance at Zack, who smirks at her. and rolls her eyes. Undoing the folds that shape the note into a haphazard square, Trini frowns at not immediately seeing the hectic mess that was their tic-tac-toe game. Zack's handwriting is at the top of the page.

_hey i know the car ride was awk but i dont wanna make that take up everything u know? what do u say to a date today when we get out of here?_

He's drawn a surprisingly accurate kissing emoji at the end, and Trini blinks, realizing with a sinking feeling in her chest that this note isn't for her. Her first clue, of course, should've been how the note was folded because Zack hasn't quite gotten the shape down as Kim does, not that origami (or even the most basic paper folding) is really his forte.

Trini calmly -- even though she _kinda_ wants to crumple the sheet into a ball -- refolds the note and flippantly flicks it back in Zack's direction. He catches it, his brows furrowing in confusion, but when Trini mouths _wrong person_ at him, she can see his life flashing before his eyes in the look he gives her.

It's the definition of "oh, shit" if she's ever seen it.

Sheepishly, Zack picks up the other square on his desk and throws it at Trini, avoiding her eyes. She lets out a small sigh of relief when she unfolds this one and the hopeless tic-tac-toe grid stares back at her. As she doodles a flower in the margin of the sheet of paper instead of actually adding to the game, Trini hears the faint _whoosh_ of a note flying in the air, and it takes every fiber of her being to not look up for Kim's reaction as Zack throws the right note to her.

 

* * *

 

_"Do you remember the last time you went off on your own and got involved in 'Ranger business'?"_

Kimberly snickers to herself as Tommy pouts. Even though she can't see Hayley's exasperated eyeroll from Adam's laptop, she can still hear it in the other woman's tone.

Tommy mumbles his answer, "I… created killer dinosaur-robot hybrids."

"Well, hey," Adam says with a shrug, "He's got me and Kim, now, so I think we'll be fine."

Kimberly gives him a thumbs up from where she's sprawled out on the couch. It's very comfy, and she's still very tired.

 _"That doesn't make it any better,"_ Hayley mutters, and Kimberly peeks her head up over the couch just to catch the offended frown on Adam's face, _"Apex seems serious, alright? They must cover their tracks well 'cause I can't find much on them, but what I_ **_am_ ** _looking at is… it's not pretty, and it's not_ **_just_ ** _'Ranger business'."_

"They pointed guns at the _Power Rangers._ Of course, it's not pretty," Tommy takes a seat next to Adam at the kitchen counter and crosses his arms on the countertop, "They're military black ops or whatever who wanna control some superheroes. What else is new? There was a Captain America movie about that last year."

_"That was friends against friends, Tommy. And a movie. This is… real. You need back-up."_

"And we'll call for back-up _if_ we need it," Tommy says, "Kim made me promise."

"I did," she muffled chimes in, pressing her face against the couch's armrest, "We have a plan."

Tommy repeats her words more clearly for Hayley to hear, "We have a plan. Or, well, kind of have a plan."

" _He_ has a plan," Adam cuts in, holding his hands up, "I have no part in the beginning stages. I'm just here for the muscle."

 _"Oh, great, I love hearing your amazingly well-thought-out plans,"_ Hayley retorts, sarcastically.

Adam gives Tommy an expectant look that he ignores. "Well," Tommy starts, "We're… gonna lay low. Try to find out what we can about Apex. If none of the others have any answers, then Adam has some friends in the Sheriff's Department that he can ask around with. Big thing is just keeping our heads down and controlling how many Rangers are in town."

 _"I could go on forever about how flimsy and terrible that plan is,"_ Hayley sighs, _"But I won't because I'm sure Adam's already given you his thoughts. I'll let you know if anything comes up, then."_

"Or," Kimberly calls out, "You could just tell us in-person in a couple of hours."

_"Right. I'll let Trent know you're coming."_

"Just Trent?" Tommy asks, "Where are the rest of the kids?"

_"Uh, Conner's out of town for a couple of weeks. Someone contacted him about wanting to do business with his soccer camps, so he's getting his name out there. Ethan just left for some geeky convention, said he'd be gone until Tuesday. And Kira's still on tour. She's almost done, but I think Tori's getting a little stir-crazy."_

"Alright, then, I guess we'll be seeing _just_ you and Trent in a couple of hours… Bummer."

Hayley rolls her eyes. They all bid her farewell as Adam ends the video call with a _bing._

"Not really kids anymore, are they?" Kimberly says, absently, turning over on her back to stare at the ceiling.

Tommy walks over and leans on the back of the couch, smiling fondly down at her. "Mm, nope, they're not," he murmurs, "And speaking of kids, we should probably start checking out."

"Ugh," Kimberly groans, "Five more minutes."

"You've had five more minutes for, like, two hours," Adam calls over his shoulder as he disappears into his bedroom.

"Five more minutes," Kimberly says, giving Tommy her best impression of a sad puppy.

"If I have to get up, you do, too."

She grumbles, resigned, and takes the hand he offers to her to get up off of the couch.

 

* * *

 

Kim scrolls through all the new Instagram notifications she hasn't checked all morning as she comes out the front doors of AGHS, easily walking down the steps without really looking at where she's going.

**_zackattack liked your photo._ **

**_zackattack mentioned you in a comment:_ ** _@kimhart14 always babe :P_

**_jscott11 liked your photo._ **

**_jscott11 commented on your photo:_ ** _congrats on being official lmao_

**_thomasgoliver liked your photo._ **

**_kimberlyannharts liked your photo._ **

**_kimberlyannharts commented on your photo:_ ** _Ew, gross :/_

**_torres.cory liked your photo._ **

**_cabooseachievables liked your photo._ **

**_candywashington liked your photo._ **

**_ttttrini liked your photo._ **

**_ladyofthesun liked your photo._ **

**_ladyofthesun commented on your photo:_ ** _get it babe!_

**_bcranston liked your photo._ **

**_bcranston commented on your photo:_ ** _Congratulations!_

**_emilyj19 liked your photo._ **

**_emilyj19 commented on your photo:_ ** _aw u guys are so cute together!!_

She unthinkingly scrolls through the notifications, seeing the usual likes and a couple of comments from other kids that she's somewhat friends with, mostly the theatre kids since that's sort of become her crowd after quitting cheer. It's not until Kim hits a familiar name that she halts in her tracks, letting the others walk ahead of her.

**_amanda_clarkk liked your photo._ **

"Kim?" She glances up at Zack's voice and softly clears her throat, trying to dislodge the stone in it. The other four are looking at her, curiously.

"Uh, yeah, I'm coming, sorry." Kim tucks her phone back into her pocket and with it, hopefully, her thoughts of Amanda liking one of her photos again. She catches up to the others and instinctively brushes up against Zack's side, wrapping an arm around his waist, the tension easing out of her bones when he drapes his arm over her shoulders in return.

Jason checks the time on his phone and looks at all of them, squinting his eyes against the afternoon sun, "What's everyone doing after this? I was thinking we could go to the mall or something."

"I'm cool with that," Billy nods and smiles.

Trini adjusts her beanie on her head, pulling it closer down, almost over her eyes, and frowns, "I'd love to, but I'm grounded."

"Didn't you sneak out yesterday, though?" Kim asks, raising her eyebrows.

Trini doesn't look at her as she answers, scuffing the bottom of her shoe against the asphalt, "Yeah, but I can't be doing that everyday otherwise my parents are gonna catch on."

"I can drop you off at your place. It's no problem," Jason says then nods at Kim and Zack, "What about you guys?"

"Uh," Zack rubs the back of his neck with his free hand, "We were actually gonna… go on a date."

Jason pauses and blinks, "Oh, uh, cool." He shakes his head as if fully processing, "I mean, have fun!"

Beside him, Trini visibly cringes, closing her eyes for a second and sighing, "Jason, have you ever been in a relationship?"

"Uh, yes?"

"You expect me to believe that?"

"Um… yes? Yes."

Kim chuckles under her breath and rolls her eyes, "Thanks, Jay."

"Where are you guys going?" Billy asks.

"I'm _glad_ you asked, Billy," Kim says, elbowing Zack gently in the side and flashing him a teasing smile, "Because Zack won't tell me."

Zack holds his chin up high. "It's a surprise."

"I'm the one with a car."

"Still a surprise," he replies, grinning cheekily.

Trini clears her throat and tugs on Jason's jacket sleeve, "Can we get going? I wanna get home before my mom gets on my case."

"Yeah, sure," Jason nods, and with that, they all say their goodbyes, splitting off in two directions.

Kim and Zack walk to her car, their arms still around each other. Zack opens the driver's door for her, and she puts a hand to her chest, pretending to swoon, "Oh, my, what a gentleman."

"Shut up," he rolls his eyes and lets her get in, "I know you don't mean that."

"Thank you," she says, chuckling, as he closes the door and goes around to the passenger side. As she buckles herself in, Kim glances at Zack, "So, are you gonna tell me _where_ we're going? 'Cause, like I said earlier, I _am_ driving, after all."

He sighs, clicking his seatbelt into place and rolling his eyes, "Alright, I _guess._ So, just to preface or whatever, I was thinking we could, maybe, do some… volunteering together? I know that's not, you know, a typical first date, but I feel like that's a good way to get to know someone better. Does that make sense?"

Kim hums and nods, appreciatively, "Hm, I've never really thought of volunteering as, like, a date, but I get you. It's quality time, but it's, like, without the stress of, like, dinner and a movie or something -- like, you don't have to worry about awkward dinner small talk because you're getting to the core of serving other people. I _really_ like that."

Zack breathes a sigh of relief and grins. "Whew, good, because I didn't have any back-up plans," he jokes.

"Oh, come on," Kim reaches over and places her hand on his neck, leaning over to give him a quick kiss on the lips, "You know I wouldn't care what we do or where we go. I'm just glad to be spending time with you."

"I think that's the nicest thing you've said to me since we've met," he seriously admits as he pulls back.

She laughs and gives him a whack on the arm for good measure then puts the key in the ignition and starts the car up, "Okay, where to?"

"I was thinking Central Park? We could see if the relief camp needs help, which I'm sure they do."

Kim nods, "Yeah, I'm down for that." She pulls out of the parking lot, one hand on the steering wheel and the other holding Zack's.

 

* * *

 

Angel Grove Central Park is bustling, seeing more activity in the past few weeks than, well, maybe ever. Or, at least, as long as Kim has remembered since she moved here. She can't say anything about before that, though. Volunteers in flimsy vests rush around like worker bees, herding different people in need to different tents and stations. A man with a volunteer vest covering his olive green Henley passes by them, and Kim hails him down, tugging Zack forward with her other hand.

"Excuse me, sir--" she starts.

The man stops and glances at her and Zack, smiling almost immediately, "Hey, how can I help you?" A tag clipped onto his vest says his name is Adam.

"Uh, we're interested in volunteering -- community service," she says, gesturing at Zack, who gives the man an awkward thumbs up, "Are you guys… taking?"

"Yeah, all the help we can get," Adam answers. He rubs his neck and glances around, "Do you need someone to sign off on anything? Is that how those things work still?"

Kim nods, "I just need the contact info of someone in charge, yeah. For paperwork later."

"Alright, um," Adam keeps looking around then cups his hands around his mouth and calls out in the direction of one of the tents, "Hey, Rachel! C'mere!"

It's a common name and doesn't have to be the _same_ Rachel, but Zack still bristles next to her. Kim rubs her thumb across the back of his hand. A brunette woman looks up from the tent, and Adam motions her over. Even from the distance, Kim can see just exactly who it is. She gives Zack's hand a brief squeeze, but he doesn't respond. For her own sake, she ignores the urge to glance at him.

Rachel Jordan walks toward them, smiling at Kim when she's close enough to recognize her. "What's going on?" she asks. Kim still doesn't look, but she desperately hopes that Zack isn't blatantly glaring daggers at Rachel in public.

"These kids wanna help out," Adam says, jerking his thumb at Kim and Zack, "They need your info for paperwork later or something."

"Just me, actually," Kim cuts in before Zack can say anything.

"Of course, sure," Rachel pats one of her pockets and pulls out a business card, handing it to Kim, "Here, Kim, you can come by my office sometime this week and I'll sign off on whatever you need."

"You taking off?" Adam asks.

Rachel nods, "In a little bit, yeah." She takes off her name tag and vest, bundling them up in her hands, "I have to start heading to the airport soon. Gotta pick somebody up."

"Alright. I'll get these two settled in, then. Drive safe."

Kim half-heartedly waves goodbye to Rachel as she leaves then glances at Adam, who's looking them up and down.

"I didn't ask your names, did I?" he frowns a bit.

"No," she chuckles, "You didn't." Kim reaches out to shake his hand, "I'm Kim, obviously."

Zack wriggles his right hand out of hers to shake Adam's as well, "Zack."

Adam seems to pause for a moment and studies them then gives a small smile, "Well, it's nice to meet you two. I'm Adam." He taps his name tag and turns around, motioning for them to follow him, "C'mon, I'll get you guys all set up."

As they follow him, Kim sticks Rachel's business card into her pocket, ignoring how it feels like it's burning a hole in her jeans, and reaches over to hold Zack's hand again.

 

* * *

 

After dropping Trini off at her place, Jason drives them to The Grove and parks a little haphazardly, his back left tire slightly over the white line. Billy asks him, politely, to fix it.

"I'm not great with my left turns," he complains, huffing, but he fixes it, anyway.

"Well, now I know who not to take driving lessons from, then," Billy comments, cheekily.

Jason rolls his eyes as he gets out of the car, "Kim sped to get to Starbucks this morning. I don't think you have many options left."

"There's always Tommy and Kimberly," Billy points out.

"Yeah, okay, fair."

They walk into The Grove's south entrance, near the ice rink, and Jason looks at Billy, "Where to first?"

"Uh," Billy twiddles his thumbs. He hadn't thought this far yet, figuring that since Jason was the leader, he'd just naturally pick a place and Billy would go along with it. "We could eat lunch first," he suggests.

Jason nods, "Alright, food court, then."

At the food court, deciding what he wants takes Jason about ten minutes, which Billy finds incredibly amusing since it'd taken him less than a minute to spot a Raising Cane's and make his choice.

"Look," Jason mutters, petulant, "I like all food, okay? It's hard to choose."

"Uh-huh," Billy hums, unconvinced. Jason ends up going along with his choice of Cane's, anyway, then insists on paying, going as far as to try to stand in front of Billy when he pulls his wallet out.

When they get their food and sit down, Billy bites off part of a chicken tender, chewing as he thinks about potential small talk topics to approach. School seems to be the focus of most of the options he comes up with, so he goes with that one since, well, he doesn't need to be open about being a Power Ranger in public. "How are your classes?" he asks, curiously.

Jason shrugs, taking a sip of his soda, "Fine, I guess. I have a history project due in, like, two weeks."

"Oh, cool. What's it about?"

Jason snorts, "Beats me. My partner and I haven't decided on a topic yet, but it's supposed to be a research presentation thing." He grumbles to himself and dejectedly munches on a french fry.

"You don't wanna do it?"

"I mean, yeah, I do. I like history, but school kinda seems… boring, now, you know? Because we're…" he trails off and shakes his left wrist, his communicator reflecting the overhead ceiling lights.

Billy purses his lips, considering the idea, then shrugs, "Not to me, but that could just be me."

"Mm, fair, I mean, it just seems like if, like Zordon said, Putties are gonna keep popping up, then school's not really gonna be our first priority all the time. It's hard to stay focused on school is what I'm saying, I guess."

"That makes sense," Billy nods, "Is that why you've been going to tutoring?"

Jason pauses, a chicken tender halfway to his mouth, and blinks, "Tutoring?"

"You said you were going to tutoring yesterday."

Jason puts his chicken tender back down in his basket, confusion on his face. "Uh… oh! Oh, um, yeah," he scratches his ear, "Yeah, that's why I'm going to tutoring, yeah."

Billy raises his eyebrows, "You just said 'yeah' three times in a row."

"Yeah, what about it?" Jason just stares back at Billy, but after a minute, he frowns, glancing down at his food. "Alright," he sighs, "You caught me. I'm not going to tutoring."

"Are you just walking around the halls?" he asks, curiously. Billy can understand wanting alone time, but he doesn't get why Jason wouldn't be upfront about it. Trini usually is.

"Ah, no," Jason tugs on the collar of his jacket, playing with the denim material between his thumb and forefinger, "I… Can I ask you a favor, Billy?"

Billy furrows his brow, not sure where this is going, but "Of course" is the only answer he'd ever give for any of his friends.

"Please don't tell anyone else on the team about what I'm about to tell you."

That raises concerns. Billy blinks at Jason, "Is it _illegal?_ "

"No, no, no," Jason shakes his head, "I just don't wanna tell them until I feel… comfortable."

"Okay," Billy says, slowly, "I promise I won't tell anyone else."

Uneasily, Jason runs a hand through his hair, messing it up. A lone strand hangs in front of his forehead, refusing to be moved anywhere else. It's kinda cute.

_Focus, Billy._

"You know the varsity football coach?" Jason asks.

"Mhm, Mr. Jordan," he nods, "He's my English teacher."

"Yeah, uh, I've…" Jason takes a deep breath, "I'm not on the team anymore, you know, but I've been talking to him about, uh, going to therapy. For my anger issues, you know, and my, um…" He closes his eyes, briefly, pausing, and Billy just sits there, waiting, "My mood swings and things like that."

"Oh, okay," Billy clears his throat, unsure if he's allowed to ask this, but he figures that Jason is opening up the conversation, anyway, "What about your parents? Have you talked to them about this?"

Jason shakes his head, frowning at the idea, "No, I haven't. Coach thinks I should, though. I don't think they'd be open to it. I--" He picks up a chicken tender and eats the entire thing before speaking again, cutting off his previous thought, hurriedly, "We've got a plan. If I ask them and they won't let me go, I kinda just have to wait until I'm, you know, eighteen, and then Coach says he'll help me look for therapists. Be my moral support and stuff."

"That's nice of him." Billy takes a sip of his soda, not wanting to take up more conversation space and also not really know what he'd say in response, anyway. Maybe Jason just needs to air things out.

"Yeah, we're close. He's been my coach for years, so you know, I spent a lot of time with him and the team," Jason scratches his nose and shrugs, "They became kinda like my family when I didn't wanna deal with stuff at home."

"Have you talked to any of them since? The other guys, I mean," he asks, "You don't have to answer that, but I just… was wondering."

Jason clears his throat, "Uh… I saw them yesterday, yeah. You, um, you know Emily? She took my parking spot yesterday."

"Actually, she got it fair and square."

"Not the point, Billy." Still, Jason cracks a smile, and Billy counts it as a small victory.

Billy returns his smile. "Yeah, I've seen her around. I have English last, and she'll drop by, sometimes."

"Yeah, so, uh, she's my partner for that history project, and we went over to her place to do some brainstorming and… Coach had the team over," Jason sighs.

"Oh. That's a little awkward."

Jason chuckles, but it doesn't sound very hearty, "Yeah, I dunno, it was… dumb…" He trails off, thinking about something else, not entirely committed to continuing, but Billy is already connecting the dots in his head.

"Does Emily live in Brightwater?" Billy asks, quietly.

"Um, yeah, yeah, she does." Jason starts playing with the collar of his jacket again, his face apologetic, "Sorry about that, yesterday, you know, it was stupid--"

"Jason," Billy interrupts him before he can go on, holding out a hand, "It's fine. You're fine."

His brow furrows. "Are you-- are you sure?" he stutters, uncertainly, starting to crumble before Billy's eyes, "I mean, I shouldn't have let, you know, them being there get to me and I just… I feel bad. Everyone else felt it--"

"It's not your fault that we felt it," Billy says, softly, "And I'm glad we did."

"You are? But, Kim--"

"Kim's fine. We wouldn't have been able to help you, otherwise. So, yeah, I'm glad we did. It's not a bad thing to need help, sometimes." Giving Jason a gentle smile, he holds his fist out over the table.

Jason chuckles and bumps their fists together, "Thanks, Billy."

 

* * *

 

It's undoubtedly a bad idea, but Trini does it, anyway. She makes it a habit to not use Facebook a lot because most of the people she's "friends" with on there are all people who don't _actually_ care about her, people just sent her a friend request because she went to the same school or whatnot. For that reason, Trini still hasn't given the other Rangers her Facebook, and she doesn't plan to. Despite that, she still has her laptop open at her desk, scrolling through her timeline. There's not much else to do, right now, since she's grounded and, because she has the rest of the day to study for her test on Tuesday, she has decided that catching up on Facebook is something she wants to do.

There's plenty of updates from kids from her last high school, but after a few minutes of scrolling, Trini still doesn't see anything within the past few weeks from the person she wants to see, so, naturally, she takes matters into her own hands. Dragging her cursor up to the search bar, Trini types in _Summer Landsdown_ and clicks on the first profile that pops up. The last activity, predictably, is all things that Trini has seen before, and it really does seem like Summer hasn't touched Facebook at all since the last time Trini saw her.

 **_Summer Landsdown_ ** _started going to school at East Boston High School -- August 25th, 2014._

 **_Summer Landsdown_ ** _moved to Boston, Massachusetts -- July 11th, 2014._

 **_Summer Landsdown_ ** _went from being "in a relationship" to single -- July 1st, 2014._

 **_Summer Landsdown_ ** _is in a relationship with_ **_Trini_ **

She slams her laptop shut and closes her eyes, taking a deep breath. Her head prickles with needles, a headache threatening to form, and Trini leans back in her desk chair, staring at her ceiling. Definitely not one of her greatest decisions to make. Sighing, Trini lets a few minutes of silence pass, mentally composing herself before she starts to spiral, then reaches for her backpack on the floor. She pulls her headphones and history textbook out then opens up her laptop, quickly exiting out of the browser window before she can be tempted to start going through the posts on Summer's Facebook. Linking her headphones to her laptop via Bluetooth, Trini loads up Spotify and settles in for a few hours of reading.

 

* * *

 

Kimberly hefts the last of their luggage into the backseat of Tommy's Jeep and closes the door, turning to go back into the house. Tommy is still inside, going over some last-minute house-sitting things with Hayley and Trent. She comes up behind Tommy, easily slipping under his arm, and he wraps an arm around her shoulder without pausing.

"So, if any bills come--"

"I know how to wire the money from your account," Hayley says, interrupting him.

"Oh, okay-- wait, _what?_ " he blinks in surprise, "You do?"

Hayley fakes a look of innocence and purses her lips, "Did I say that out loud?"

Trent chuckles, shaking his head, "C'mon, Dr. O, she’s not a computer genius for nothing.”

“C'mon, babe, worrying is my thing,” Kimberly murmurs then gently pokes him in the side, “And _I’m_ not worried.”

“Promise I won’t set the house on fire,” Hayley teases, “Especially since _you_ haven’t already.”

Tommy shakes his head but sighs, conceding, "Fine. I guess."

"Besides," Trent says with a shrug and cheeky smile, "If _you're_ in Angel Grove, then that's where all the trouble will be, right? We'll be fine."

"There's so many things to unpack in that sentence," Tommy mutters.

"You have your morphers, right?" Hayley asks.

Kimberly nods, "Yeah, they're at Adam's right now."

"Alright, then, we're all set," Hayley makes a shooing motion with her hands, "Go. Be questionable parental figures. We'll call you if we need anything."

"Which we won't," Trent adds, reassuringly, but Tommy only frowns as Kimberly drags him away by his shirt sleeve.

 

* * *

 

After a brief incident with the elevator where Jason grumbles about how they're always randomly braking _and_ breaking and Billy momentarily considers trying to hack into the mall's security system from his phone, they leave the food court and go down to the third level, hitting GameStop first. A row of kiosks sits outside the GameStop, and Jason pauses, one of them catching his eye.

"You coming?" Billy asks.

"Yeah, yeah, go ahead, I'll catch up," Jason waves his hand, and Billy shrugs, continuing into the GameStop.

Jason walks over to a kiosk displaying different ornaments, suited for rearview mirrors or anything, really. The blonde behind the counter flashes a smile at him that he politely returns, "Can I help you with anything?"

"Uh, I'm just looking for now," Jason answers, looking at multi-colored dreamcatchers and seashells hanging from a display of hooks. He takes a flat seashell off of its hook, running his thumb along the ribbed surface and taking in its soft blue and white color. "How much for this?" he asks, holding it up.

"All of the shells are ten," the girl says, "But, it's fifteen for two."

Jason chuckles, "Yeah, there's always a but." He thinks it over for a moment then picks up an identical blue shell off of the display and places them on the counter, "I'll take these, then."

"Alright, fifteen dollars." Jason pulls his debit card out of his wallet and hands it to her. The girl slides his card on the register and glances at it then up at him. " _You're_ Jason Scott," she says in realization.

Nervously chuckling, he forces a polite smile, "Do we go to school together?"

"No, no," the girl shakes her head, "I go to AGCC, but my sister is in your year. You might know her? Cory Torres? She's in theatre."

The name doesn't ring a bell. He doesn't know everyone, of course, contrary to what people might believe. In fact, despite his celebrity status around Angel Grove's inner circles, now that he's out of them, he's been finding that there's way more to high school than the football team. Different-colored superheroes, for one. Jason shrugs and takes his card back when the transaction processes, "Nope, don't know her."

"You want a bag with that?" the girl asks, holding up a small paper bag.

"Yeah, sure."

"Alright, receipt is in the bag." The girl waves goodbye to Jason as he takes the bag from her, "Have a good day!"

"You, too. Thanks."

Jason folds up the top of the bag and walks into GameStop, finding Billy at the Playstation section, looking at some games. The store is somewhat busy -- Saturday afternoon and all -- so Jason keeps himself close to the wall of games to let some other customers brush by. "Find anything interesting?"

"Mm," Billy hums then sticks the game back on the shelf and looks at Jason, taking notice of the bag in his hand, "What's that?"

"Just a decoration for my car," Jason answers, casually, "You done?"

Billy nods then raises his eyebrows, "You don't wanna look around, though? I don't mind waiting."

"Nah, I'm trying to not buy any games until my birthday," Jason says, "So, Barnes & Noble next?"

"Yeah, sure, let's go."

 

* * *

 

When Adam wanders off for a second to check on something, Zack leans over to Kim and whispers, lowly, "I saved that guy Thursday. Like, before I went to help you and Billy with the Putties."

Kim doesn't look at him, trying to keep her focus on assembling the relief kit in her hands, quietly mouthing to herself every item that she grabs from the table and puts in it. "Yeah, so?" she asks.

"Kimberly and Tommy were with him," Zack responds like it should mean something. He doesn't know what exactly, though.

Kim pauses and looks at him. "Yeah, _so?_ " she repeats, shrugging, then motions at his hands, "Keep going, you're stalling."

"I can't multitask, okay?" he pouts, going back to packing. Toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, body wash, soap, razor, shaving cream, towel, brush, comb, baby wipes, hand sanitizer. He zips up the kit, tosses it into the box of finished underneath the table, and gets started on another one. Toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, body wash, soap, razor-- "I don't know, I just thought that was interesting. Like, small world." He reaches for the box of towels, grabs one, and continues.

"I mean, they used to live here, right? He's just an old friend of theirs or something," Kim adds, "You skipped the shaving cream."

"Oh, thanks, babe. He said I had nice armor." He grabs the shaving cream and finishes the bag, tossing it in the completed box.

Kim chuckles under her breath, "Mine's nicer."

"Yours has weird, uh, you know."

"Don't even say it."

Adam returns to the tent, grabbing an empty relief kit to start filling it up, "How's everything going?"

"It's all good," Kim answers, "Hey, uh, I have a question."

"I have an answer. And, if not, I'll think of one." He cracks a smile, and Zack rolls his eyes, shaking his head.

"Where are you from?"

"Stone Canyon," Adam answers.

Kim raises her eyebrows, "And you live here now?"

"Mhm, I moved here halfway through high school, went to Texas for college, then came back after. I've pretty much been here ever since."

Zack chuckles, "No loyalty to Stone Canyon, then, huh? I guess choosing who to root for at games isn't really hard." He pauses, blinking at the arrangement of hygiene products.

"You just put in the brush," Kim whispers to him.

"Thanks. Again."

Adam shrugs, "I still visit it from time to time. I've got some friends who live there, but I kinda fit in with Angel Grove better, if that makes sense. This place has a lot of good memories for me."

"Yeah, that makes sense," Kim says, nodding.

"You, uh, ever see the Power Rangers?" Zack inquires in what he hopes is a subtle transition, "I mean, with this city's history, it couldn't have always been easy living here."

Beside him, Kim clears her throat and taps his shoe with hers.

"Who hasn't?" Adam responds with a laugh, "I never met them in person if that's what you're asking. And, yeah, it wasn't always easy, but I definitely like it here. I mean, that's kinda why I haven't moved. I've got a good business going, steady income, nothing to really complain about."

"What kind of business?" Zack asks. Toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, body wash--

"Soap," Kim, again, whispers, but this time, he'd actually been paying attention to what he was doing while talking to Adam. It had been very hard to do so, but he'd done it.

"I _know,_ " he says back, "But thanks for looking out for me."

"I run a martial arts dojo," Adam answers, "The woman I called over earlier? Rachel? Her kid is one of my students. We're pretty close to Angel Grove High, so a lot of the high schoolers are in some of my classes."

"That's nice. I didn't know yours was the dojo Emily goes to," Kim says.

She and Adam keep conversing, trading small talk while Zack stays focused on his kit assembly, keeping his mouth shut and trying not to think about Rachel or any of the Jordans.

 

* * *

 

Throwing her duffel bag into the backseat of Rachel's SUV, Tommie gets into the passenger seat, buckling her seatbelt and immediately pulling her earbuds out of her pocket. She plugs them into her phone and sticks the right earbud into her ear.

"How are you? How was the flight?" Rachel asks, pulling out of the parking garage and getting onto the freeway.

"It was alright," she mumbles, opening up Spotify on her phone, "I'm pretty tired, though, so…"

"Oh, yeah, no problem. Go ahead, take a nap. Plenty of time to talk later."

"Yeah, 'course." Tommie puts her other earbud in and settles back into her seat. She doesn't feel comfortable, not entirely, against the leather seat and shifts a few times, restless. It takes her a few minutes to find a position she's comfortable with and even more minutes to actually drift off to an uneasy sleep.

Everything passes in a second, and the next thing Tommie knows, Rachel is reaching over and gently shaking her shoulder.

"Rise and shine, sleepyhead."

Tommie groans and unbuckles her seatbelt, stretching to wake herself up more, "Ugh, how is it _not_ eight yet?"

Rachel chuckles and shakes her head as she gets out of the car, "It's hardly even four."

Tommie exits and grabs her duffel bag from the backseat, the closing of the door pulling her slightly more away from the land of sleepiness. "It's a good thing the moving truck is coming tomorrow," she mumbles, "'Cause I don't feel like unpacking." She pauses on the driveway and takes in the Jordan house. It's undoubtedly nice -- one-story, sleek and modern like the rest of the surrounding neighborhood. In person, it looks and _feels_ slightly richer than the photos she'd seen. "I still think that's a few too many windows," Tommie comments as they walk up the path to the front door, "Aren't you worried about people seeing inside?"

As she unlocks the front door and disables the alarm with her remote, Rachel shrugs, "It has its pros and cons. We have blinds, of course, but they're drawn back for Shabbat." She walks inside and takes off her shoes at the welcome mat, and Tommie follows suit. "Hello? Em? We're home!"

"Speaking of," Rachel continues, dropping her car keys into a tray on a table by the door, "We're ending Shabbat a little early tonight because Em's game cuts into sunset, so you're welcome to join us. You don't have to, of course."

"Uh," Tommie pauses, standing there on the welcome mat, and rubs her neck. Three candles are steadily burning in the center of the dinner table. She looks away. "Maybe another time."

"No hard feelings. Whatever you're comfortable with. Your room's the first one on the left of the hallway. You know, the green one."

Tommie chuckles as she makes her way to her bedroom. The door is wide open, and she throws her duffel bag on the floor and stands in the doorway, looking at it, bare bones and all. The walls are a pale, light green, blending nicely with the bed with its dark green sheets centered against one wall. The open, empty closet is next to the bed, beside the door, and on the opposite wall, the door to a separate bathroom is slightly ajar. A desk is pushed underneath the only window of the room, and a large, empty bookshelf sits next to the dresser in the corner.

"Hey."

Tommie jumps, just slightly, and turns, forcing a small smile when Emily opens her arms for a hug. "Oh, hey." She doesn't quite feel up to it, but she leans in and firmly hugs Emily, anyway.

"I'm glad you're finally here," Emily says, grinning when she pulls away.

Tommie rolls her eyes, "Nerd."

"Edgelord."

"Oh, you wanna go?" She raises her fists in front of her face and fakes a few jabs at Emily's side, "'Cause I'll go."

"Yeah, whatever," Emily rolls her eyes and swats Tommie's hands away, "That reminds me -- since you're here, now, I need to show you the dojo I'm at. I can take you Wednesday afternoon. That's when my class is."

Tommie pretends to think about it, "Well, actually, I think I'm all booked for Wednesday…"

"Oh, shut up. Do you need help unpacking?"

It's Tommie's turn to roll her eyes, "I literally have one bag right now. I think I'm good. Besides, I think I'm gonna take a quick nap."

"Alright, cool. Mum will probably wake you up when it's time for the game. I've gotta get going soon. Wouldn't be good if the captain wasn't early." Faintly, from the front of the house, the alarm softly beeps to indicate the front door opening and closing. Emily peeks her head out into the hallway, "And there's Dad." She looks at Tommie, "Are you gonna join us to end Shabbat?"

This again. Tommie clears her throat, ignoring how her stomach coils, "Uh, no, I'm… Maybe another time, you know?"

"Alright, then, see you at the game."

Tommie closes the door after Emily leaves, muffling the sound of voices drifting in from the dining room. After a moment of thought, she decides not to lock it, though, in case Rachel comes in to wake her up later. Sighing to herself, Tommie climbs into bed, not bothering to get under the covers, and tries to drift off again.

 

* * *

 

Jason doesn't immediately start his truck up when he and Billy get in. "Hey, I have something for you," he says.

"Oh? For me?"

"Yeah, uh," Jason holds out the paper bag he'd been carrying all day, "I saw these earlier when we went to GameStop, and I thought of you."

Billy takes the bag, opens it, and peeks inside. "Oh!" he exclaims in surprise, "You didn't have to--"

"I wanted to," Jason shrugs and smiles.

There is a moment's pause. "Jason, I don't have a car."

He laughs, "Well, we're sitting in mine, right now, so I was thinking you could put one shell up here and, maybe, next time you ride in Kim's car, you take the other one and ask her about it."

"Oh, okay, right, that makes more sense." Billy nods and pulls a seashell out of the bag, hanging it on the rearview mirror. He sits back, appreciating his handiwork, and smiles brightly, "Thank you."

Jason smiles back and taps the shell with his finger, "No problem, Billy."

 

* * *

 

Adam tells Kim and Zack that most volunteers only spend their hours at the relief camp in the daytime, and everything closes shop for the night. Everything starts winds down shortly before dinner, so the two take that as their cue to leave. They didn't mention why they were here, but he has eyes -- he definitely notices how close they don't _need_ to stand next to each other while doing something as normal as packing relief kits.

It's a little endearing and cute, really, seeing these kids up close instead of just hearing about them from Kimberly and Tommy.

"It was nice meeting you, Adam."

"Yeah, nice meeting you guys, too."

They all shake hands, and Adam turns to leave, slinging his backpack over his shoulder, but then Kim thinks of something and calls out to him, "Wait, one last question."

He turns around, expectantly, "Yeah, sure. What's up?"

Kim glances at Zack and wrings her hands together -- a classic Kimberly tell, if Adam's ever seen one, "I was just wondering -- you said you lived here when Angel Grove had Power Rangers, right?"

Adam fights the urge to smile and nods, "Yeah, for a couple of years. Why?"

"How did the public feel about them?"

Now he _really_ has to fight the urge. "Good, I guess," Adam fakes a shrug, "They were heroes, of course."

"Well, you know, these new Power Rangers -- have you seen the news about them? You know, there's, like, some newspapers and journals asking if the Power Rangers can be trusted and things like that. I mean, I can imagine the political climate now is… different than it used to be when you were in high school."

Adam raises his eyebrows, "What's your question?"

"I guess, as someone who's lived in Angel Grove for a long time," Kim asks, slowly, "What're your thoughts on all of that?"

He doesn't even have to think about it. "I think a little caution is always good, but, if it were up to me… _I_ trust the new Power Rangers. They might look a little different, a little more, uh, alien, but they saved this city. And the world, really."

 _And me, personally,_ he silently adds.

Zack nods to himself and glances down at his shoes, avoiding looking at Adam which is most likely _because_ of the car wreck and the Putties on Thursday -- except Zack doesn't know that Adam _knows,_ which makes it all the greater.

Kim smiles, softly, and in her smile, Adam sees the striking resemblance to Kimberly, "That's nice to hear. Uh, I'll probably try to drop by again… next Saturday?"

"Sure, feel free. Bring some friends, too. The more, the merrier."

"Alright, will do." Kim and Zack start walking in the direction of the parking lot. Adam doesn't miss Kim slipping her hand into Zack's.

"I think the Power Rangers are doing a great job," he calls out, causing Kim and Zack to pause and look at him. "Angel Grove is in good hands," he adds with a smile.

They bid him one last farewell. As they leave, Adam feels the side pocket of his backpack, making sure that the clunky, hard, metal shape that is his morpher is still there.

 

* * *

 

“Okay,” Kim puts her key in the ignition and starts her car, “Where to now?”

“We could go straight to dinner,” Zack suggests, “If you’re hungry. The lunch at the camp wasn’t super filling. Especially, since, you know, we’re superheroes with big appetites.”

“Yeah, I’m down… What’s on the menu?”

“Well,” Zack pokes her in the shoulder, smiling, “What’re _you_ in the mood for?”

“Honestly?” Kim purses her lips, “Dim sum, but brunch time is, like, _way_ over.”

Zack grins at her, widely.

“What?”

“I’ve got some _news_ for you,” he says, proudly, pulling his phone out of his pocket, “There’s this all-day dim sum place that my mom and I used to go to. Lemme see if it’s still there…” He taps away on his phone, pulling up Google Maps, “Yep! Still there, _and_ it’s open ‘til ten.”

“Zack Taylor, I could _kiss_ you.”

“Why don’t you, then?”

 

* * *

 

The doorknob to the front door jiggles, and the alarm beeps, turning off. Kimberly looks up from the couch as the door opens and Adam pauses at the sight of her and Tommy just lounging in his living room.

His brow furrows, "I didn't give you guys a spare, did I?"

"Not yet," Kimberly says, giggling, "But, you forget -- we don't need spare keys." She holds up the communicator on her wrist then lays back against Tommy's chest.

"Lucky," Adam mutters, "You guys get everything you needed from your place?"

"Mhm, everything. How was volunteer turnout?”

“Good, good,” Adam sets his backpack on the floor next to the coffee table and stands at the end of the couch, looking amusedly at Kimberly, “I ran into mini-you and her boyfriend.”

Kimberly raises her eyebrows, “At the park?”

“Yeah… I think they were on a date. I didn’t ask, though, but I think Kim was wearing Zack's shirt. _They,_ however, asked me about the Power Rangers.”

“Oh? Why?”

He shrugs, “I mean, Zack saw me with you guys the other day, so he was probably curious, but I didn’t give anything away.”

“That’s good,” Kimberly murmurs, absently, “They’re good kids.”

“When are you guys gonna tell them?” Adam crosses his arms and gives them both an expectant look.

“When the time is right,” Kimberly says, quickly.

“Which would be…”

“When Tommy Oliver comes to town.”

“ _If_ Tommy Oliver comes to town,” Tommy adds, “We don’t know what kind of situation we’re dealing with here, and I don’t wanna stir up any empty concerns with Apex watching the kids.”

“Fine,” Adam sighs, “But, just be careful.”

“Aren’t we always?” Kimberly smiles, cheekily.

“Not as much as I’d like for you to be, no. Anyway, if you guys want, I was planning on finding someplace for us to have dinner. Sounds good?”

“Yeah, sure, that’d be nice.”

“Alright, cool, just let me go take a shower.”

 

* * *

 

Melanie’s phone buzzes, and she picks it up from her desk. The caller ID is unknown, but she’s sure she knows who it is. She’s expecting this call, anyway. Today is a special day. Hitting the answer call button, she whistles the seven-note tune the moment the call connects, “York.”

York parrots the tune back at her, _“Director.”_

She waits for him to speak.

_“I have eyes on Oliver.”_

“Good.”

_“What about the Power Rangers, ma’am? It’s inevitable that Oliver will get close to them.”_

“Leave that to the rest of us. We’ll be watching, too. You have your own mission.”

_“Yes, Director. Will do.”_

 

* * *

 

After he drops Billy off at his house, Jason drives home and enters his empty house. He knows for a fact that his dad is on the boat until morning today, and a note on the fridge says that his mom and Pearl are at the soccer game. He pulls out his phone and thinks about who's available. Definitely not Kim and Zack, but…

_[JS 7:12 PM] hey wyd_

The response comes back almost instantaneously.

_[T 7:12 PM] im disgusted that i can say a white boy has txted me askin "hey wyd"_

_[JS 7:12 PM] :/_

_[JS 7:12 PM] i repeat, wyd_

_[T 7:13 PM] studying_

_[JS 7:13 PM] can i come over_

_[T 7:13 PM] ur just rly going for it arent u_

_[JS 7:13 PM] trini_

_[T 7:13 PM] ughhhh fine i guess.jpg_

_[T 7:14 PM] but bring ur own stuff to do bc i have to study_

 

* * *

 

There aren't any other cars parked in front of her house, which is why Kim's first thought upon pulling into the driveway _isn't_ that either of her parents are home. She makes a show of leaving Zack at the porch as she lets them in through front door, but he just rolls his eyes and tries to tickle her as she closes the door behind them. Kim toes her shoes off next to the welcome mat, and Zack does the same, holding his in his hand for when he inevitably leaves through her bedroom window. The kitchen lights are noticeably on, but the thought slips Kim's mind that she wasn't the one who left them on when she left for detention this morning.

"Thank you for today," Kim says, sweetly, caressing Zack's cheek, "And for dinner. It was lovely and amazing." She leans up and gives him a peck on the lips.

He grins, "Ten out of ten?"

Kim rolls her eyes, " _Eleven_ out of ten."

"Oh, _wow._ " He looks smug.

"Whatever. Come on," Kim grabs his hand and, together, they go upstairs.

Zack is half through the doorway of her bedroom when he pauses. "Wait," he says, quietly, then points down the hallway. The light is on in her parents' bedroom.

Kim frowns then brings her finger to her lips. Zack nods and disappears inside her bedroom, presumably to hide in her bathroom. Or under her bed again. Quietly, Kim approaches her parents' bedroom, wondering. Neither of her parents' cars were in the driveway, so maybe her dad left the light on when he came home from getting groceries?

She peeks in and sighs, loudly, in relief. Her mom looks up from folding a shirt and putting it into her open suitcase on her bed.

"Hello, sweetie."

"Hey, Mama. I didn't know you were home," Kim mumbles, "Didn't see your car in the driveway."

"Oh, it's in the garage," Maddy responds, "I'm not going to be using it for awhile, so I figured I could get it out of the way.

Kim stares at the suitcase on the bed and glances at the other one standing next to her mom's nightstand, looking like it's already full. "Where are you going?" she asks, quietly, her stomach sinking.

"To visit your aunt."

"When… when are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow," her mom murmurs, "I'll be gone for about a week."

Kim bites on her lower lip, clenching her fists at her side. A flight to England could be pretty expensive and hard to just plan on the go. "When did you buy the ticket?" She doesn't want to know the answer, truly, but she asks, anyway.

Maddy stops packing and looks at Kim, sighing, "Tuesday. Your father and I were having dinner at Rudy's to… talk it over."

Kim stays silent, stunned.

Her mom goes back to packing, walking over to her dresser and grabbing several pairs of socks. "Are you going to introduce me to the boy in your room?" Maddy asks, casually, after a few minutes.

"I-- What?" Kim blinks, sputtering, "There's-- there's not a… _boy_ in my room."

Her mom gives her a look. "You're wearing his shirt, and I heard you two laughing downstairs."

Shit.

"Um," Kim clears her throat then calls out, knowing that Zack can hear her, even from her bedroom, "Hey, Zack, can you come in here, please?"

A few moments later, Zack warily pokes his head into the bedroom.

"She heard us when we were downstairs," Kim explains, frowning.

"Oh," he waves, sheepishly, "Hey, Mrs. Hart. Uh, Ms. Hart. Miss-- um... I'm gonna shut up now."

"So, this is Zack," Maddy goes to shake his hand.

"Yep, that's me," he nervously chuckles, probably feeling about as awkward as Kim currently does.

Her mom asks, curiously, as she casually walks back and forth between her closet, dresser, and suitcase, "Where did you two just come back from?"

"Uh, a date," Kim says, slowly, "We were volunteering at the relief camp in Central Park, and then we had some dim sum for dinner."

"Sounds nice," Maddy hums then stares at Zack, "You're treating her right, aren't you?"

"Yes, ma'am, of course," he says, hastily, clearing his throat.

She looks at him for a moment longer then nods, "You should get home, Zack. It's getting dark outside."

"Um, of course." He shoots Kim an apologetic look as he scrambles out of the bedroom, his footsteps disappearing down the stairs.

"He's nice," Maddy comments.

Kim waits until she can hear Zack close the front door. "I don't think you should be trying to examine who I date," she mutters, lowly, "Especially since you and Dad are getting divorced, anyway."

Maddy stops and sighs, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Kimmy--" she starts.

"Don't _'Kimmy'_ me," she snaps and turns on her heel to go back to her bedroom, "Have fun in England."

 

* * *

 

Initially, Jason had brought his copy of The Great Gatsby to read for his test on Thursday, but that had quickly gotten boring so he'd resorted to watching Hulu on his laptop. Trini had been kind enough to let him lay in her bed since she was already at her desk, multitasking between reading for her history test and playing Stardew Valley ("Say anything, and I'll _kill_ you.") when he teleported in, but he feels like if he moves around too much, she'll kick him out. Maybe.

While waiting for a commercial break, Jason picks up his phone and scrolls through his Instagram feed. There's a lot happening -- just another Saturday, of course. He stops on a group selfie of the AGHS women's soccer team, posted just a few minutes ago, and taps it twice, waiting for the red heart to pop up. Emily is holding up the camera, grinning brightly.

 **_emilyj19_ ** _stone canyon whom??? love these girls with all my heart x_

Jason smiles and pulls up his messages. The commercial break abruptly ends, and he hits pause on his laptop so that he can focus on one thing at a time.

_[JS 8:02 PM] hey congrats on the game_

_[EJ 8:02 PM] thx :)_

_[EJ 8:02 PM] oh hey my sister came today! she's pretty cool or whatever i guess_

_[JS 8:03 PM] lol can't wait to meet her_

_[JS 8:03 PM] is she into sports?_

_[EJ 8:05 PM] not rly? she likes volleyball but she hates being in clubs_

_[JS 8:05 PM] not a team player?_

_[EJ 8:05 PM] yea just not her thing_

_[EJ 8:06 PM] hey can me and her sit w/ u and ur friends at lunch? i know i don't rly know everyone in ur group but i don't wanna make her feel awkward by having her sit with me and the soccer girls_

_[EJ 8:06 PM] like at least w/ u guys i know u aren't all sports 24/7 lol_

_[JS 8:06 PM] yeah sure i can ask the others but i'm sure they'd be okay with it_

_[EJ 8:06 PM] alright cool cool_

_[EJ 8:06 PM] i gotta go do some family bonding but have a good night!_

_[JS 8:06 PM] thanks u too_

 

* * *

 

Kim's bedroom door is _definitely_ locked. Her phone _bings,_ and she reaches for it.

_[ZT 8:30 PM] omg that was so uhhhh awk_

_[KH 8:31 PM] you're telling me??? i wanna die smh._

_[ZT 8:31 PM] is ur mom still awake_

_[KH 8:31 PM] mhm she's making herself dinner downstairs_

_[ZT 8:31 PM] ok well lmk when shes not_

_[ZT 8:31 PM] ill come over_

_[KH 8:32 PM] you don't have to_

_[ZT 8:32 PM] i want to_

_[ZT 8:32 PM] <3 _

_[KH 8:32 PM] !!!!!_

_[KH 8:32 PM] <3 _

_[ZT 8:33 PM] disgusting_

 

* * *

 

When they come back from the game, Tommie can feel Emily's eyes on her and isn't surprised when she's pulled aside in the hallway while Edward and Rachel are busy making matzo in the kitchen.

"Hey," Emily's brow furrows with concern, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Tommie answers, instinctively, hunching her shoulders.

Emily pauses. "Come on. You can talk to me."

Tommie swallows and glances in the direction of the kitchen, where Edward and Rachel's laughter drifts from, and then down at her socks. "This isn't home," she murmurs, finally. Once again, these aren't her parents, and this isn't her sister. This house and neighborhood, for all of its pompous showiness, isn't where she belongs, if anywhere at all.

Emily sighs and nods. "I know," she says, softly, but her tone isn't pitying, "It's always weird at first."

"It's been six months, though," Tommie counters, frowning. An unspoken _I should_ argument hangs off of the end of her words.

"Yeah," Emily shrugs, "But, it's your first day here. Give it some time."

 _There's never enough time,_ Tommie thinks but bites her tongue. It only ever takes a few months for something to go wrong, at the very least.

"C'mere," Emily holds her arms open for a comforting hug, but Tommie doesn't move forward.

Humor is how she copes. "No, _gross,_ " she scrunches her nose and laughs, hiding the rest of her feelings, "You're all sweaty. Go take a shower!"

Emily pauses for a second, almost not wanting to let it go, but relents and shakes her head. She tries to wrap Tommie in a hug, anyway, and gets shoved away, laughing and straightening her jersey out, finally heading for her room.

Standing for a moment alone in the hallway, Tommie sighs to herself then heads to the kitchen to see if Edward and Rachel need any help.

 

* * *

 

The hole itself has been covered up well, and a barrier of yellow tape blocks off the entire area of what used to be the Krispy Kreme in Angel Grove. A woman, her features blurry and disjointed as if she isn't fully there, peers at the tape. "Caution," she reads in a mocking tone and scoffs. She walks forward, the tape ripping apart the moment it touches her clothes, sparking green at the point of contact. In the air, she feels the electricity and power, something these puny humans could never really seem to grasp. She walks until the draw of the Zeo Crystal's power is undeniable, calling out to her through feet of packed dirt and rubble.

A harsh growl sounds behind her, and she stiffens but doesn't turn. A man joins her at the site, his features, too, disruptive as if they hadn't settled yet. "Don't touch it," the man says, his voice raspy and low, "I should've warned you before, if only I had known that you would be _foolish_ enough to hunt for the Rangers this far--"

She can feel his anger start to rise, indicated by the glowing red of his eyes and the flickering of his appearance that still hasn't stabilized yet. "I'm not touching it," she says, simply, clenching her jaw.

"Count yourself lucky that you didn't succeed," he remarks, tone full of disdain. He reaches out and grips her arm, fingers digging into her skin, and if she concentrates hard enough, she can feel the actual scratch of his real claws underneath.

In an instant, they're gone, and the scenery around them vanishes. The man lets go of her arm, and she scowls at him, naturally. It may be her mess to clean up, but she would rather clean it up _herself_ than have him watch over her.

"Careful," he warns, tilting his head at her, eyes darkening.

She frowns and looks at where he's teleported them. The neighborhood is ugly, detestable, like all others, but the houses in this one appear slightly more esteemed than the others she had seen. "What am I looking for?" she asks, irritated already.

He points across the street at a house with exposed windows, giving a look at the family inside -- a father, mother, and two daughters, neither of which looks related to the parents. "There," he says and begins walking across the street. Grumbling, the woman is forced to follow him until he stops on the other side of the street.

"Can they see us?" she asks, narrowing her eyes at how the blinds in the living room are open. Inside, the mother says something, and the rest of the family laughs.

"No," he answers. He drops his disguise, and she can feel hers fade away as well, but she doesn't dare look right at him, not while standing so close. It would be disrespectful to do so, and she just doesn't _want_ to. "The Zeo Crystal can't be touched by a being of pure evil -- not without consequences, that is." His voice is deeper than before, gravelly and contemptuous.

With a wave of her hand, Rita Repulsa summons her golden scepter to her, pulling it out of the pocket dimension it had been put in. She might have to fix her patience and tolerance, but having a little extra magic at her disposal _does_ feel good. The green power coin glows faintly in the middle of the scepter's head. She grins, all teeth, and fondly taps it with a clawed finger, feeling it buzz in the air a little louder in response to her touch.

"If that's so," she drawls, "Then, what do we need? How are we going to get to it?"

Rita glances at the window of the house again. The father and mother are sitting together on the couch, their arms around each other. One daughter, blonde, smiling, sits on an armchair next to the couch, her legs curled up. The other daughter, her hair darker, is separate from them, choosing to take a seat on the ground on one side of the coffee table, across from the couch. Her shoulders are hunched, legs crossed and hands in her lap. Everything about her posture reads as isolated, guarded. Rita smiles, knowing before the answer is spoken.

"First," Lord Zedd says, following her gaze, his visor faintly glowing red in the moonlight, "We need a host."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dary! LEGENDARY! (see [this](https://78.media.tumblr.com/fa72252bcad72121f7e4d3b0c0a22f1d/tumblr_p4mys0kxVB1s8laauo1_r1_540.png))
> 
> :)


	12. The Girls Next Door, Part I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A week after finding out about her parents' divorce, Kim's frustrations finally come to a head in an explosive breakdown. Tommie reluctantly settles into life with the Jordans. Meanwhile, Rita and Zedd plan for the demise of the Power Rangers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> part one of a very special two-parter :)
> 
> this is honestly a chapter i keep close to my heart (puns! quips! jokes!) bc of what kim goes through in the beginning parts and i just... idk i really appreciate the comments and messages from y'all about my characterization of the reboot kids and the veteran rangers and how much you guys love my depiction of their struggles and mental health because, honestly, this fic is the fic i wish i would've been able to read when i was going through a really bad depressive episode during my early years of college, so i'm glad that i'm writing it now for y'all and i hope that, even though things only get darker from here, if you guys are struggling with something, i hope you can find solidarity and strength somewhere in here
> 
>  **chapter-specific warnings:** a really detailed/intense panic attack early on in the chapter, mentions of divorce as per kim's arc, mind manipulation (that will... just be a given with rita and zedd now in the fic but i'll be sure to warn for any occurrences, regardless), very vague mentions of abuse and/or bad experiences with the foster care system.
> 
>  **misc:** this isn't necessarily a warning but just as a note, legacy is going to get darker and delve deeper into more like... content that isn't touched upon in fandom a lot. i've done some set-up for this with kim mentioning things like her morning quiet time routine or her situation with her parents and church as well as the introduction of the jordans and them being jewish in the previous chapter, so i just wanted to come out and say that i'm gonna end up leaning on religion heavily in this chapter and many coming chapters. being a christian myself, the way i choose to write these characters as also being religious is something that's personal to me, but i also understand if you don't want religion intersecting with your power rangers since religion is, of course, something that's never heavily touched upon in superhero genre, save for your usual christian funeral, etc. if that's not your thing, then i'm glad you made it this far, but i wanted to say my two cents on what legacy is gonna look like from here on out.

Blinking groggily, Zack stretches and quietly groans, reaching out and feeling nothing beside him but pillows and empty bedsheets. The spot next to him in bed is empty but not quite cold yet, so Kim couldn't have gotten up that much earlier. Sitting up in bed, Zack rubs at his eyes and concentrates, listening for any noise in the rest of the Hart house. He can faintly hear Kim’s voice downstairs as if she’s talking to someone, but not the person she's talking to. Getting out of bed, he opens the door as quietly as he can, tiptoeing down the hallway and peeking into her parents’ bedroom. The bed is made. Kim’s mom’s luggage sits in the corner next to the closet, so she hasn’t left yet, either.

Zack goes to the stairs and listens intently, wanting to make sure that, if he goes downstairs right now, he won’t just walk into a Hart family breakfast. Although, judging by everything that has been going on, maybe it would be a good thing for Kim and her parents to _actually_ be eating breakfast together again. Besides the point. He refocuses, still not hearing anyone other than Kim. Must be on the phone or something. Zack figures the coast is clear and jogs down the stairs.

Kim is sitting at the kitchen island, her laptop in front of her and her earbuds on. "I just can't believe she didn't think about telling me," Kim says to a girl on her screen, frowning. Her back is to Zack, so he comes up behind her and wraps his arms around her waist, raising the girl's eyebrows. "Good morning," Kim murmurs, taking out one earbud and giggling when he kisses her cheek.

"Morning," he nods at the girl on screen who he can only guess is fussing in Kim's ear due to how enthusiastically teasing she looks, but Zack can't quite read lips, "Who's that? What's she saying?"

"My cousin Saira, and she's-- _stop,_ " Kim mutters, rolling her eyes.

"What?"

"She's asking if you have any brothers. Or sisters." Kim unplugs her headphones from the laptop.

_"It's a fair question, really."_

"I don't, sorry," Zack says, flashing Kim's cousin an apologetic smile, then he looks at Kim, noting Saira's accent, "Is she from England?"

"Mhm," Kim hums, glancing away, "My mom's staying with Saira's family while she's over there. She just found out this morning."

Saira frowns, _"Kim, if I'd known--"_

"You don't have to apologize," Kim says, quickly, tensing in Zack's arms, "It's not your fault."

Zack clears his throat and quietly asks, "Have you eaten yet?"

Kim shakes her head.

"M'kay, I'm gonna make breakfast." He lets go of Kim and leaves her with a kiss on her temple then goes to raid the fridge.

"Zack, you don't have to--" she starts, but Zack cuts her off.

"I _want_ to," he insists as he pulls out four eggs and sets them next to the stove, "Do you have pancake mix?"

"No pancakes," Kim mumbles, but she doesn't elaborate if that means there isn't pancake mix in the house or if she doesn't want pancakes, "My dad went grocery shopping yesterday, supposedly. Check the freezer for waffles."

He opens the freezer and grabs the box of waffles on the top shelf, opening it, "Alright, and eggs?"

"Sunny side up is fine." Kim groans and plugs her earbuds back into her laptop to keep talking to her cousin while Zack busies himself with breakfast.

 

* * *

 

Tommie wakes up the moment her brain registers knocking on the door, but she doesn't budge. Next to her, Emily loudly groans -- which would've woken her up, anyway -- and rolls out of bed, taking almost the entire blanket with her if Tommie hadn't already been clutching it tightly. The door creaks open, and Tommie keeps her eyes closed but stills her breathing to catch the conversation.

It's Rachel's voice at the door. "Hey, Tommie wasn't in her room--"

"Yeah," Emily sleepily mumbles; the door creaks a little more, presumably being widened, "She's here. Came over last night."

"Is she okay?" Tommie's shoulders tremble for a moment, but she forces herself not to move.

"I think so, yeah. Are you and Dad making breakfast?"

"Mhm, but there's still some time if you wanna sleep a bit more."

"Alright, thanks, Mum." The door closes, and Emily sighs, "You know, you can stop pretending like you're asleep."

Tommie grumbles and opens her eyes, blinking at the sunlight streaming through the blinds. She sits up in Emily's bed and runs a hand over her face, "How'd you know?"

Emily shrugs and crosses her arms, still standing by the door, "Your breathing stopped."

"Yeah, it was a rookie mistake 'cause I wanted to hear you guys," Tommie mutters, swinging her legs to the floor and getting up, "Everyone knows you have to fake breathe if you wanna make sure someone thinks you're asleep." She looks at Emily, biting the inside of her cheek, "You didn't tell Rachel why I came over."

"She didn't ask."

"Would you have told her if she asked?"

"I would've let her ask you herself," Emily says without hesitation then adds, quietly, "You didn't say anything about insomnia or nightmares."

"Well," Tommie says, a little too harshly, "I wasn't gonna tell you beforehand and have you act all weird when I finally moved in, was I?"

"No, I guess not," Emily doesn't flinch, but she looks away at her closet instead of at Tommie.

"I just forgot my meds in one of my boxes. It's not gonna happen again."

Emily shakes her head, "C'mon, Tommie, don't say it like that. I'm not-- it's not bad that you had a nightmare, okay? I'm not judging you."

She doesn't like _talking._ "Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna go take a shower," Tommie brushes past Emily and opens the door, going to her room. She doubles back once she's stepped into her bedroom and finds Emily still standing next to the door, "Uh, can I borrow a towel?"

"Sure, I think I've got an extra one."

 

* * *

 

Kimberly hangs up another shirt in the closet and holds out her hand for Tommy to give her another piece of clothing to hang up. The door to their guest bedroom is wide open, and Adam pokes his head in as he walks by, his hair still a sleep-tousled mess.

"You guys are up really early," he says, stifling a yawn, "And dressed."

Tommy shrugs and pulls another shirt from the suitcase on their bed, "I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep last night. Bad dream or something, can't remember."

"Which means _I_ ended up waking up and not being able to get back to sleep," Kimberly complains in a teasing tone.

"Uh-huh," Adam holds back another yawn and nods at the closet, "What's that?"

"What's… what?" Kimberly blinks at him, "You're gonna have to be more specific."

"Briefcase," he mumbles, leaning against the doorframe.

"Oh," Kimberly taps the briefcase that she'd put at the bottom of the closet, against the back wall, with her foot, "Our morphers."

Adam snorts, "You have a _briefcase_ for them?"

"What's wrong with that?" Tommy asks, defensively, and Kimberly rolls her eyes.

"Nothing, just… seems a little extra," Adam responds, shrugging.

"It was Tommy's idea," Kimberly says, chuckling, "Since he has _sooo_ many of them."

"Five," Tommy counters, "I have five."

"Sheesh," Adam whistles, "That's enough to make a team."

Kimberly points an empty clothes hanger at Adam, " _Don't_ give him any ideas."

"Okay, okay, I won't," Adam holds his hands up in surrender and backs out of the room but pokes his head back in shortly after, "Uh, by the way, do you guys have any plans for, say… 2 hours from now?"

"I haven't even thought about what I'm gonna eat for breakfast," Tommy says, handing Kimberly a pair of jeans to hang up.

"IHOP," Kimberly answers without missing a beat, "We're going to IHOP."

Tommy looks at Adam, "We're going to IHOP, I guess."

"Cool, well, I was gonna invite you guys to come with me to church, if you wanted. No pressure."

 _Church, church, church--_ Kimberly grabs her phone from the bedside table and unlocks it, humming excitedly to herself, "I totally forgot about that! Thanks for reminding me, Adam."

"Uh… you're welcome?" Adam scratches his head, "What… what'd I remind you of?" He glances at Tommy, raising his eyebrows.

Tommy shrugs, "Beats me. She does this a lot."

"You reminded me about church," Kimberly answers, absently, typing away at her phone.

_[KO 8:07 AM] Hey, quick question. Were you still planning on going to church today?_

_[KH 8:07 AM] yeah, why?_

Kimberly looks up from her phone at Tommy, "Hey, babe, would you mind if we went with Kim to church today?"

"Uh, no, I don't mind."

_[KO 8:07 AM] Tommy and I want to drive you to church. Is that okay?_

" _Wow,_ " Adam scoffs and exclaims in an exaggeratedly dramatic voice, "I'm _so_ offended right now. I asked you and then you went and made _other_ plans in front of me? What friends you two are."

Kimberly stares at him.

He cracks a wide grin, "I'm kidding. I literally don't care."

"I figured."

_[KH 8:08 AM] yeah sure._

_[KH 8:08 AM] service starts at 10 for me and it's about 20min away._

_[KH 8:09 AM] idk how far u are from me but u know where i live_

_[KO 8:09 AM] Yeah, I can Google Maps the time. Do you wanna have breakfast with us at IHOP before, too?_

_[KH 8:09 AM] no thanks, zack's making me breakfast._

_[KH 8:09 AM] thanks for offering, though. and for church._

 

* * *

 

"Are you certain they can't see us?"

A deep grumble answers her question, " _Must_ you ask that every time? You don't doubt my powers, do you?" There's a threatening note on the end of Lord Zedd's words that makes Rita tense.

"No, I don't," she replies, quickly, before he decides to interrogate her. Her question itself is answered the moment they pass straight through the front door of the Jordan house.

"Good," Zedd taps his staff on the ground with every step, but the harsh and frightening _thump_ it makes is only audible to his and her ears alone, "If you did…"

"I don't," Rita repeats, clearing her throat. She follows him, gripping her scepter tightly. The parents are in the kitchen, making food, and Rita stares for a moment too long, the itch to create chaos just _so_ tempting, but Zedd strikes his staff on the floor, loudly, bringing her attention back to him.

"Your attention span is like that of a mortal's," he scoffs, disdainfully, continuing down the hallway.

"Because they're so easy to _destroy,_ " she sneers, frowning at the couple then following him, "I could kill them in seconds."

"Oh?" Zedd whirls around, his visor glowing red, "If that's so, then why couldn't you destroy _five_ puny humans who had powers they had no _experience_ with?"

Rita swallows and stays silent.

"And I still haven't heard a word of gratitude from you," he continues, irritably, stopping at the first door on the left. The door is closed, but he steps forward and passes right through. Rita follows him, scowling.

"Thank you, most _gracious_ Emperor, for saving me from an eternity of floating aimlessly in dark space," Rita says, not meaning a single word of it.

If she could see his mouth, Rita would have guessed he would be matching her scowl.

"Unfortunately," he growls, "I _need_ you."

"Very unfortunate, indeed." So much, actually, that she needs him, too, apparently, since she did _so_ well at defeating the Power Rangers weeks ago.

Rita takes a moment to examine the bedroom they're in. Light green walls, entirely empty save for the furniture and a full duffel bag on the floor, next to the bed. The shower is running, and the bathroom door is slightly ajar. Rita regards the bed with its dark green sheets that are still cleanly made, "It doesn't look like she slept here last night."

"Which means, for once, you _actually_ did something right," Zedd comments, sounding smug.

"Well," she huffs, "I wouldn't have been able to use her memories against her without your help, now, would I?"

"Absolutely." He reaches up and pretends to polish off an imaginary speck of dust off of the silver _Z_ that heads off his staff. A useless action, considering they're not physically here and nothing can touch them, but it's a power move, meant to further assert his authority over her.

It makes Rita want to take her scepter and bash his head in.

"I would certainly like to see you try," Zedd remarks, unfazed.

She scowls and glares at him, "You should be helping me get into her head."

"And _you_ should stop being insubordinate."

Rita sighs and relents, giving up the argument for another time, "Fine. Let's just do what we came here to do."

 

* * *

 

At this point, Tommie's sure that she's going to end up using all the hot water before she's done with her shower, but frankly, she doesn't care. Technically, she deserves it with the shit night she had. Emily had been nice enough to be concerned when she had quietly gone over, entire body shaking like she was still in the accident, but Tommie silently promises herself as the water washes over her that it's the last time that happens. The nightmares hadn't bothered her for years, and she's not keen on them starting up again _now._

Somehow, Tommie figures that, maybe, it's just her anxiety messing with her, connecting how out of place she feels in this fancy, rich house to the bad memories she's spent all that good therapy time and grief counseling shoving deep, deep down. It's not that the Jordans aren't a good family or that she doesn't click with them -- she _does,_ she knows she does. They wouldn't have spent so many months Skyping before the adoption finalized if they all hadn't clicked.

Give it some time, Emily had said.

It's true, Tommie knows from experience over and over again, but that's always the thing, isn't it? She knows it takes time because of experience -- _because_ she's gone from foster home to foster home, before _and_ after the Olivers adopted her. There never is enough time for her to settle in, for her to feel at home. _And why would Angel Grove be any different?_ she thinks, bitterly, working shampoo into her hair, her nails digging into her scalp. Maybe she would've been better off still bouncing around the system. Once she hit her time with Gwen and Reece or her eighteenth birthday, whichever one came first, then she'd be free to fend for herself, like she did best.

Whatever. Only three weeks or so more until she became her own adult. Not too far away.

 

* * *

 

Zack sees Kim off when Kimberly and Tommy swing by to pick her up for church. "Have a good day," he says, giving her a kiss on the lips, "Let me know when you're free, if you wanna hang out or something."

"Yeah, sure thing," she smiles as he waves at Kimberly and Tommy and disappears around the back of her house to teleport back to his place, away from prying eyes.

"Hey," Kim greets, nodding at Kimberly in the driver's seat.

"You two are gross," Kimberly says, giving her a cheeky smile.

"Shut up," Kim rolls her eyes, "Here, lemme send you the address."

 

* * *

 

The Jeep pulls into an empty spot in the parking lot of Redemption Church, and Kimberly gets out, locking the doors after Tommy and Kim join her. The parking lot is almost full, a couple of spots still empty, and people are filing into the church through the front entrance.

"Okay," Kimberly sighs, glancing at Kim, "Before we go in there, anything we need to know?"

"I mean, this isn't Mass," Kim shrugs, "Have you been to church before?"

"No, no, I know, we go every Sunday," Kimberly waves her hand, "I meant… this, you know, me and Tommy taking you instead of, um, you know…"

Kim clears her throat, glancing at her shoes, "Oh, um."

Kimberly shoots Tommy a look, trying to gauge if, maybe, possibly, that was a few words too far. Tommy shrugs at her in response then rubs his neck, "Uh, I mean, family friends could work? Not technically a lie, and it doesn't hold us to coming back. I mean, um… that's not supposed to sound like we wouldn't want to come back."

"Right, yeah," Kim mumbles then starts walking, "C'mon."

Kimberly trails behind, bumping her shoulder against Tommy's. "Maybe we shouldn't open our mouths ever," she muses, quietly.

He chuckles and shakes his head, "I know you're joking, but I'm inclined to agree with you, based on, you know, our entire history."

Tommy holds the door open for them, and they enter, surrounded immediately by the soft buzz of churchgoers mingling with each other before service begins. The foyer is moderately crowded with people lingering around a table with several coffee pumps and cups. A set of doors are propped open, leading into the nave where some people are already seated. It's a more modern church setting than the one Kimberly went to with her mom and brother back when she lived here, but that's just a given since times have changed a lot faster in a few decades.

"There's, um, free coffee," Kim mumbles, motioning at the table, "I'm gonna go save us some seats."

As she walks away, they get in line for some coffee, even though they both already had some for breakfast. Too much coffee wasn't something Kimberly believed in, really, and unfortunately, that sometimes rubbed off on her husband. Kimberly sighs and wraps an arm around Tommy's waist, resting her head against his chest. "I don't like this," she murmurs.

"Don't like what?"

Kimberly glances through the doors, spotting Kim picking a set of chairs near the back row. A blonde girl approaches her, probably a friend from school, and starts chatting with her, but Kim's body language is muted, contained to herself, even while the other girl's is talkatively animated. "That," Kimberly says, nodding at the scene, "She's here because she wants to be, but… but she's hurting, and…" She takes a deep breath, sadness rising in her chest, but she isn't sure if it's hers or Kim's.

"And you can't do anything about it," Tommy finishes, quietly.

"I can't do anything about it," Kimberly scoffs, bitterly, and frowns, "I know exactly what she's going through, and I can't even stop it."

Tommy gently squeezes her shoulder, "There's a lot of things we can't control, Kim, you know that. The best thing we can do-- the best thing _you_ can do is be there for her."

"Yeah," Kimberly sighs as they finally get to the front of the coffee line, "I'm trying to get as much time as I can before…" She doesn't say it, but the brief, grim look on Tommy's face is enough to let her know that he caught her train of thought.

 

* * *

 

The girl Kim was talking to introduces herself as Cory when Kimberly and Tommy come over and leaves shortly after to join her own family nearer to the front. Kim had chosen a seat on the very edge of the row so that her chair is closest to the wall, so Kimberly sits down next to her and Tommy next to her. "Here," Kimberly hands over a coffee cup, "Two creams and two sugars."

Kim takes the cup from her, taking a hesitant sip from it. Her posture is all wrong, shoulders hunched, arms crossed, gaze low, nothing at all like the girl Kimberly had gotten to know over the past couple of days. She knew that Kim's problems weren't always visible, but seeing her in church was completely different. "Thanks," Kim murmurs, and that's all she says.

Kimberly looks away into her own cup, forcing down a wave of nausea. The lack of a snarky comment about how she anticipated yet another of Kim's tastes doesn't bode well. She doesn't dare say anything to end up making it worse, though, so the three of them sit in silence until the band gets up on stage to start worship.

Audibly, Kim sighs beside her as she sets her cup down on the floor and stands, hugging her arms to herself. Kimberly can feel it, a dam waiting to break open, a crack just at the edge of its life. She so desperately wants to reach out and touch Kim's shoulder, let her know that she's there for her, but Kimberly holds herself back. Her touch could be the last straw that breaks Kim's back.

The first song starts, and Kimberly knows the words, ideally, but her attention is elsewhere, all of her senses heightened and hyperaware of every breath and slight movement Kim makes. Anxiety builds in her chest, spreading out, familiar and too familiar. It's hers, but she recognizes immediately that it's not _her._ Kimberly spares a glance at Tommy, wordlessly; he frowns, understanding what she tries to tell him with her eyes. When Kimberly looks back, Kim is already leaving, quietly and quickly heading for the entrance, her head bowed.

"Go," Tommy whispers, nudging her shoulder. Kimberly doesn't have to be told twice.

Kimberly bursts outside to the sounds of Kim breathing loudly, leaning against the wall of the church. "Kim," she starts, pushing down the dread in her chest. It's not hers, it's not hers, she repeats in her head, hands trembling before she steadies them. She can't let this get to her, not when Kim needs her.

Kim just shakes her head, staying silent and wiping away tears from her eyes with her palms.

"Kim," she tries again, "Talk to me, please. I-- I can feel it, too. I wanna help." The pressure in her body only keeps spreading, anxiety reaching every tip of her limbs. It's so tempting to just give up and find a place to curl up in a ball and cry to relieve the stress, but she can't. She can't.

Shaking her head again, Kim slides down the wall, sinking to the ground and pulling her knees to her chest. "I can't-- I can't do this anymore," she whispers, her voice hoarse.

Tears prickle at the edge of Kimberly's eyes, but she ignores them in favor of holding her hands out for Kim to take. When Kim doesn't reach for her, she pulls her into a hug, as awkward as their position on the ground may be, and gives Kim enough room to break free, but Kim doesn't. "What can't you do?" Kimberly asks, gently.

"This," Kim sobs into her shirt, her shoulders shaking. Kimberly feels the pressure tugging on her heart, but in her mind, she fights back. It's a battle inside her own mind against the pull Kim has on her, and she can't let herself lose. "All of this. I can't-- What's the point of going if my parents aren't gonna show up? What-- what's the point of _anything?_ " Kim chuckles, darkly, "They probably, honestly, wouldn't even notice if I just--"

Kimberly cuts her off, "Don't."

"You know it's true," Kim counters, muffled, holding onto her but harshly, her nails digging into Kimberly's back. Kimberly doesn't bring it up; she has to stay strong. "Last night--" she stops speaking, her words cut off by a sob, and she cries into Kimberly's shirt for minutes, sporadically making incoherent noises, "Last-- last night, I-I found out that my mom, she's going to-- to spend a week with her sister in England, and-- and I _found out,_ like, she didn't have the guts to _tell_ me beforehand? I-- she fucking _planned_ it, she bought the ticket, like, days ago, and my dad _knew._ "

Kimberly sighs, her shoulders shuddering. "Neither of them told you," she comments, quietly.

"No," Kim bites out, "No, they didn't." She holds onto Kimberly tighter, for dear life, and Kimberly just lets the numbness seep into her bones. If it's the cost of being here for Kim, she'll take it every day if she has to. "I-I feel like I'm drowning," she gasps, "I can't, I can't."

Kimberly shuts her eyes, evening her breathing out. She doesn't have to be inside of Kim's mind to know what that feels like -- the pressure, pushing down on her, feeling like she's unable to come back up for air. "I know," she whispers, stroking Kim's hair as the girl clings to her, "I'm here." Kimberly forces herself to remember what the divorce had felt like -- how lonely she had been, how abandoned she had felt until she met the others and found a new family. To see it happen again is a harsh, cold reality, but she is Kim's family, too.

"Take courage, do not be afraid," she says, feeling Kim relax in her arms, if only slightly, "You of little faith, why do you doubt?" The pressure in her body gives, just a little; Kimberly knows she's making progress. "You can walk on water if you just believe," she continues, softly, "Do you believe?" Her shirt is damp and her eyes sting from her own tears that she hasn't wiped away, but Kimberly doesn't care. In this moment, she isn't important, Kim is. "I know it's hard, Kim, but you can do this. Do you believe you can get through this?"

Kim's shoulders shudder, and she continues crying, silently. She shakes her head, firmly, and Kimberly can feel the _No, no, I don't_ in the air, on the tip of Kim's tongue, but Kim doesn't say it out loud.

 _Don't,_ she thinks, hoping that Kim's thoughts are going in the same direction, _I know you want to, but don't give it power._

Finally, Kim sighs, still quietly crying and sniffling, but her shakes turn into an almost imperceptible nod against Kimberly's shoulder. "Yes," she whispers, "I believe."

Kimberly's heart sinks from the pain she shares, like an arrow straight through, but at the same time, she can feel strength seeping back into her bones as Kim relaxes, fully, and she just silently holds her.

They sit there for what feels like hours but is most likely only minutes until Kimberly hears footsteps on the pavement and looks up, seeing Zack come out from behind the church. She makes eye contact with him, and he rushes over, kneeling beside her and Kim.

"Hey," he greets, his voice quiet and grim. There's sweat on his brow and a wild look in his eyes that Kimberly knows isn't his own. "Sorry, I came as soon as I could. I tried texting, but--"

"Our phones are on silent," Kimberly says.

"Right, yeah," he glances at Kim, reaching out to touch her but then thinking better of it and pulling his hand back, "How is she?"

Kim makes a distressed noise into Kimberly's shirt and doesn't bring her head up to look at Zack.

"I think she's better off at home," Kimberly says, "Unless… you wanna go back in there?" Kim shakes her head and grips Kimberly's shirt tighter. "Okay, yeah, home, it is. Um… can you take her for a second? I'm gonna go inside and get Tommy."

"Yeah, yeah, sure," Zack sits down next to Kim and wraps his arms around her as Kimberly reluctantly pulls away and gets up. Pink sparks briefly flicker between them, and it might just be in her head but Kimberly swears she feels a hint of warmth from them this time. "Hey," Zack presses a kiss to the top of her head and continues murmuring quietly to her.

Kimberly walks back into the church, making her way to the back row where Tommy still sits. Thankfully, Kim had chosen to sit all the way back here otherwise Kimberly would have to deal with the anxious embarrassment of leaving early in sight of other people. Worship has ended and service started, so Kimberly quickly and silently taps on Tommy's shoulder, motioning with her hand when he turns in his chair. He follows her outside, his hand on her back.

"Are you okay?" he asks once they're outside.

"Yeah, yeah," Kimberly brushes the question off, figuring she can deal with how mentally exhausted she feels later. Zack and Kim are still sitting on the ground, but only Zack looks up when Kimberly and Tommy approach. Already, Kimberly has forgotten the beauty of Kim's eyes, but she's sure that if the girl looked at her, now, she would only see heartbreak and buries the thought in her mind.

"C'mere," she holds her hand out, and Kim finally looks up, her cheeks streaked with dried tears and her eyes red, puffy, and lost. Hesitating for only a moment, Kim takes her hand. Static numbness pricks at her fingers, but Kimberly pulls Kim up with ease, slightly stumbling when Kim just clings to her and wraps her arms around her shoulders. "Um, I can drive you home--"

Kim mumbles something, but she can't quite hear it because of the angle.

"What?"

"She said 'just you'," Zack chimes in. Kimberly blinks. That damn superhuman hearing.

"Uh, yeah, sure," she glances at Tommy, who shrugs and holds up his communicator in answer to her silent question, "Yeah, alright, then, we'll see you guys at Kim's place."

Tommy and Zack go around the back of the church to teleport out of plain sight, and Kimberly walks Kim back to the Jeep. She goes over and opens the passenger door for Kim, making sure that Kim is buckled in before she gets into the driver seat. Once Kimberly is inside, she pulls her phone out, glancing through the numerous notifications that she had gotten while her phone was silenced for church.

**_The Ranger Bunch_ **

_[JS 9:53 AM] anyone wanna hang out at uhhhh idk somewhere_

_[JS 9:53 AM] i wanna do some reading but like Not At Home_

_[BC 9:54 AM] We can meet at the Java City on Fountainview?_

_[JS 9:54 AM] ugh this again…………._

_[JS 9:55 AM] yeah sure i guess_

_[ZT 9:56 AM] pass, working_

_[T 9:57 AM] same im going into mass_

_[JS 10:12 AM] uhhhhhhhhhhhhh_

_[JS 10:12 AM] u guys feel that right_

_[JS 10:12 AM] billy says he feels it too_

_[ZT 10:13 AM] ? /?_

_[ZT 10:13 AM] i hritnk its kim_

_[ZT 10:14 AM] srry dropped phone_

_[ZT 10:14 AM] think its kim she just went 2 church_

_[JS 10:15 AM] what about trini? is she still in mass?_

_[ZT 10:15 AM] think so_

_[ZT 10:15 AM] im gonna go check on kim_

_[JS 10:15 AM] okay let me know what's up_

Kimberly sighs but resists the urge to let her head thump against the steering wheel, even though she wants to. Instead, she just texts back a quick reply.

_[KO 10:22 AM] I'm driving Kim back to her place. Tommy and Zack are there now._

She glances over at Kim, "Do you mind if the others come over?"

Kim shrugs, leaning her head back on the headrest. "Doesn't matter," she says in a raspy voice then clears her throat and falls quiet.

_[KO 10:22 AM] You guys can come over if you want._

 

* * *

 

The drive back to the Hart house is quiet, so Kimberly reaches over and turns on the radio.

_“DJ Chillman here, and you’re listening to 96.5 KHXN The Groove! Stay tuned for this week's Top 50 Billboard Hits--”_

Kim slaps her hand over the tuning dial and turns the radio off.

Okay, no radio, then.

"I know that voice," Kimberly comments, absently, something nagging at the back of her mind, "Like… I don't know, sounds familiar."

She doesn't really expect Kim to indulge her in conversation after shutting the radio off, but Kim speaks, "Who, Fred? He's been hosting The Groove for a long time now, like… I don't know, years before I started high school."

"Fred?"

"Yeah, Fred, uh, Kelman or something."

"Oh! That's Freddy?" At Kim's glance of confusion, Kimberly chuckles, "He's a kid Tommy and I knew when we still went to high school here."

Kim scoffs, "Oh, well, looks like he hasn't really left." When Kimberly looks over, she's still wistfully staring out at the passing scenery, her arms crossed. Her eyes are less red but still haunted, still empty.

Kimberly remembers that all too well. "It's not bad to cry," she says, quietly, just to say it.

"Feels like that's all I've been doing lately," Kim mutters.

"Nothing wrong with that," she responds, "It's cathartic, and you're feeling as much as humanly possible."

"Yeah, sure," Kim says, noncommittally, then reaches for the tuning dial and turns the radio back on, fiddling with the knob until she finds the station she wants. The screen display says that it's 89.3 KPWR The Spark, and Kimberly recognizes it without trying as a Christian station. Soft worship music drifts out of the speakers, getting lost in the sounds of them driving down the highway.

"Tell me about it?" Kimberly asks, vaguely, but the way Kim tenses in her seat tells her that she knows exactly what's being asked of her.

It's a long moment before Kim responds, speaking so quietly and slowly that Kimberly almost can't hear her over the breeze, "My parents met in college on a mission trip. I grew up with them taking me to church every week. We tried not to miss, even when we moved from Seattle."

Kimberly glances over to see Kim briefly touch the collar of her black t-shirt before pulling her hand away, a frown on her face. She doesn't ask, but she knows.

"I used to be on the worship band, actually, for, like, all of sophomore year, playing piano," Kim says, "I was even thinking of asking about helping Cory lead, but then… I don't know, lost sight of things."

"Cheerleading?" Kimberly asks.

"Yeah," Kim shrugs, "It became a chore once I had 'better' things to do with my Sunday mornings, which was stupid, you know? I didn't see what that was doing to my life until shit hit the fan."

"It happens." There's not much more she can say about that.

"Now, look at where I am," Kim sighs, shaking her head. A commercial comes on through the speakers then transitions into another song, and Kim reaches for the volume dial this time, turning it louder, "Oh, I love this song."

Kimberly says nothing but smiles as she stops at a red light, glancing over to see Kim mouthing the words to herself and leaning back to look at the clear, blue sky.

_"I see you dressed in white, every wrong made right. I see a rose in bloom at the sight of you, oh, so priceless."_

 

* * *

 

Tommie doesn't budge as Emily reaches over and snatches one of her fries off of her tray, just blinks.

Emily sighs, "What's up with you?"

She wants to say _the sky_ but humoring Emily right now just feels like it takes too much from her. She shrugs, "Nothing."

Emily reaches over and flicks Tommie in the arm.

"Ow! What's your deal? Steal my food and then abuse me?" Tommie frowns, pushing her tray and the rest of her fries away, "Here, you can have the rest. I don't want 'em anymore."

"I just wanna know what's going on with you," Emily says, glancing at the fries, reluctantly, "Is this a trick? Are you gonna flip the tray on me when I go for them?"

"No," Tommie grumbles, putting her head in her hands. She'd had a tiny, aching headache since Emily had parked her bike and they'd walked into Walmart to grab some early lunch and do some shopping.

Emily grabs Tommie's fry container and munches on a fry, "Still haven't told me what's going on with you."

"I'm just… I don't know," Tommie mumbles, "It's whatever. I'm just… moody."

"You're always moody."

"Yeah, well, _you're_ always…"

Emily raises her eyebrows, waiting for the comeback.

Both of their phones buzz on the table at the same time, and Tommie picks hers up since Emily's hands are busy.

"Saved by the bell," she jokes.

"More like you didn't have a comeback and you're just changing the subject," Emily snorts.

Tommie huffs, "Just because that's true doesn't mean you should say it."

A new message is in the group message between her, Emily, Rachel, and Edward.

_[RJ 10:48 AM] Moving van came with Tommie's things._

_[TO 10:48 AM] thanks, we'll be back in a bit_

She glances at Emily, "You ready to go? I can go get a cart. Or, you know, trolley. Whatever."

"It's trolley," Emily mutters with a fry in her mouth.

"Uh-huh, sure." Tommie slips her phone into her pocket and goes to grab a shopping cart from the entrance.

 

* * *

 

When Kim unlocks the front door, disarms the alarm, and walks through her front door, Kimberly follows behind, pausing at the sight of Tommy and the rest of the team -- minus Trini -- just sitting around the kitchen island. Kim doesn't greet them, just walks right past everyone to go grab a glass of water, but Kimberly nods as she slips off her shoes at the welcome mat.

"Where's Trini?" she asks.

Jason shrugs, "Probably still with her family."

The air is filled with tension thick enough to be cut. Kim takes her glass of water to the couch and sits down, hiking her feet up on the table and turning the TV on. Tommy shoots Kimberly a glance to which she slightly shrugs.

"Have you guys had lunch?" she asks the kids.

"I was 'bout to," Zack answers, "But, no, not yet." Jason and Billy shake their heads in agreement.

"There's chips in the pantry," Kim says from the couch, "And some ham, cheese, and bread in the fridge."

Zack makes a face, "Why is your bread in the fridge?"

A pause. "Because nobody's ever around to finish it before it expires."

"Oh." Zack clears his throat and looks like he regrets opening his mouth.

Kimberly heads for the pantry, slipping her hand into Tommy's as she walks by and pulls him along, "C'mon, babe, let's make some lunch."

"That better not be a euphemism," Kim calls from the couch.

"Are you hungry or _not?_ "

They're a few minutes into preparing lunch when a yellow flash fills the room, and Trini materializes, dressed in an uncharacteristic blouse and knee-high skirt. She stares at everyone in the kitchen, who all stare back, and frowns, sounding slightly out of breath, "Sorry I was late. I couldn't get away from my parents."

"How was Mass?" Billy asks.

Trini glances down at her clothes, scowling, "Fine." She looks up in time to catch Zack reaching in his pocket for his phone and points a finger at him, "Don't. You. Fucking. Dare."

Zack slowly puts both of his hands on the countertop, giving Trini a placating smile.

Kim glances over the back of the couch then back at the TV. "You look nice," she comments, plainly.

"Uh, thanks," Trini responds then looks at Kimberly, jerking her thumb at Kim and mouthing _Is she okay?_

Kimberly makes a so-so motion with her hand and shrugs.

Trini's brow furrows at that, but she moves on. "I'm gonna go get changed. Be right back." Just as soon as she arrived, she's gone again, clicking the button on her communicator to teleport away.

Just in time, too, as it happens. From outside, the sound of a car door closing can be heard. Kimberly glances at the couch, but if Kim heard it, which she _knows_ that she did with her superhuman hearing, then she doesn't give any indication of being fazed. Visibly, at least.

The front door opens, and Maddy Hart walks into the foyer, taking off her shoes first next to the many sets of strangers' shoes, then looks up, freezing at the sight of a small gathering in the middle of her home. Her eyes land on Kimberly and Tommy, standing at the kitchen counter, who pause halfway through making a set of ham and cheese sandwiches.

"Um, hello," Tommy says, stupidly.

"Hello…" Maddy responds, still eyeing Kimberly and Tommy. Kimberly, on her part, doesn't dare say anything because, well, because she feels like she just got caught making out with her boyfriend by her mom. While that isn't the situation, it's definitely the sense of deja vu that she's having. Maddy walks over to Kim on the couch and tries to put a hand on her shoulder, "Hey, sweetie, how has your morning been?"

Kim flinches away from Maddy's touch, looking at the TV instead of at her mom, "When's your flight?"

It's a good thing that both Kim and Maddy's backs are to the rest of them because everyone exchanges hasty, awkward glances with each other. Billy rubs his neck, Zack fiddles with his communicator, whistling lowly under his breath, and Jason reaches over, clamping his hand over Zack's mouth and quietly shushing him. Thankfully, neither Kim nor Maddy turn around at Zack's whistle.

 _ <In about two and a half hours,> _ Maddy says, quietly, switching to Gujarati, but even though Kimberly can't understand it, she figures that it's an answer that Maddy doesn't want the rest of them to hear. Kimberly swallows, focusing her eyes on the marble countertop. She doesn't blame Maddy for wanting to make it more private. She feels like she _definitely_ shouldn't be here right now, but she can't just walk out. It's too far in to just leave, and things would probably get worse if Kim were alone with her mother.

"You should probably get going, then," Kim responds in English, her tone cold and flat.

There's a moment of silence where Kimberly hopes that nobody drops a pin. Maddy sighs and disappears up the stairs, her footsteps receding to her bedroom. For a long, long minute, everyone is frozen in place while some rerun of _NCIS_ plays on TV, and then, Trini teleports back into the kitchen, dressed in a more characteristic t-shirt of a band Kimberly's never heard of and ripped jeans. Kimberly also notices that she's only wearing socks and no shoes, finding that rather considerate of Trini, even when she's randomly teleporting into Kim's house.

Zack drops his phone, cursing quietly and furtively glancing at the stairs. "Kim's mom just came home," he hisses, herding Trini away from the middle of the room as if that changes anything, "If you came, like, one minute earlier…"

"Well, shit," Trini mutters, taking a seat at the counter.

Kimberly pauses putting together lunch for a second and walks over to the couch, leaning over and whispering to Kim. "Hey, so, I know you're mad at your mom right now," she starts, slowly, anxiety already beginning to nag at her mind, "But if you don't say something to her before she leaves…"

"What do you care?" Kim snaps, grabbing the remote and flipping through a bunch of channels only to go back to the one she started on. Her knuckles whiten, and Kimberly reaches over, prying the remote out of Kim's hand before she breaks it. Kim glares at her, "Who's side are you on, anyway?"

"The one where you don't cut your parents off forever," Kimberly replies, forcing an edge into her voice, her eyes hardening, "They're getting a divorce, yeah, and they're not being the best parents right now, but your mom is leaving for awhile. Say _something_ to her. I don't care if it's an 'I love you' that you don't mean. Don't let her get on that plane with the last thing you said to her for a whole week being angry silence."

Kim clenches her jaw and says nothing in return, snatching the remote back from Kimberly's hands.

Sighing to herself, Kimberly walks back over to the kitchen, looking through the cabinets for plates.

"Next to the fridge," Kim and Zack both say at the same time. Zack blinks, saying nothing. Trini clears her throat and pulls out her phone, scrolling through it.

Slow, careful steps come down the stairs, and Maddy reappears, carrying her two small suitcases, one in each hand, and her purse on her shoulder.

"Here, lemme help you with that--" Zack starts, about to get up, but Kim cuts him off.

"I got it," she says, quickly, standing up from the couch and going over to take one of the suitcases from her mom.

"Thanks, Kimmy."

Kim doesn't respond, carrying the suitcase to the foyer and opening the front door. A taxi is parked in front of the curb, waiting. "Um," Kim glances at her feet, wringing her hands together, "Have a safe trip."

"Thank you," Maddy says, smiling just a little, and kisses Kim on the forehead, "I love you."

Kim pauses then gives her mom a quick hug, "Love you, too."

Maddy takes her suitcases and walks out the door after a brief round of goodbyes from the other kids. The front door stays open for a moment longer as Kim watches her mom get into the taxi, then she slams the front door so loudly that Kimberly _swears_ she feels the house shake.

Nobody moves.

Kim turns around and blinks at everyone, apparently remembering that they had all just witnessed that, and scowls, heading upstairs, her footsteps heavy on the steps.

 

* * *

 

It took almost everything in Trini to not run up the stairs after Kim and make sure she was okay, but she had a reputation that preceded her. While Kimberly, Tommy, and the Rangers knew she wasn't completely a total aloof loner, that didn't necessarily mean she should resort to looking desperate. Mass had been hard to sit through while her body screamed at her to get up and find the source of the panic in her brain and the pain in her heart. It hadn't been the first time Trini had experienced a panic attack or had a breakdown during Mass, but it was the first time it hadn't been _her_ emotions. The first time it had happened since she found a group of people in Angel Grove she _actually_ cared about.

Clearing her throat, quietly, Trini gets up from her seat. Kim left the TV on in her trudge upstairs, so Trini grabs the remote from the couch and puts it on the island in case anyone wanted to change the channel. A glass of water that she assumes is Kim's is sitting on the coffee table, also forgotten. Trini picks it up and heads for the stairs, pausing at the foot, realizing that she doesn't really know which room is Kim's since… she's never actually gone inside Kim's house before and she's only been in Kim's room through the window. It's rather big and fancy. Technically, she could poke around and figure that answer out really easily since Kim's parents are both not home, but--

"Her door is right in front of you when you go up the stairs," Zack pipes up from the island.

Everyone looks at him, and he shifts in his seat, "What?"

"Nothing," Trini brushes it off and goes up the stairs. The door to Kim's bedroom is open but only a crack, so Trini lightly knocks on the door, sending it creaking an inch wider.

"Go away," Kim mumbles from inside, her voice sounding muffled, probably in a pillow.

"It's me," she says, quietly, expecting Kim to tell her to go away again.

Nothing but silence.

"Can I come in?" Trini asks, "You forgot your water downstairs."

"Fine," Kim huffs.

Trini opens the door and steps inside, finding it pretty much in the same state as it was the last time she was here. The lights are on, but Kim is sprawled out on her bed, facedown in her pillow. She sets the glass of water on a coaster that's already on Kim's bedside table and glances around the room. Clothes are still strewn around the floor in small piles, and Kim's closet door is slid open so Trini can see her yellow flannel that she let Kim borrow half-hanging out of Kim's laundry hamper. With a small frown, Trini notices that there's a fist-sized hole in Kim's wall, right next to her dresser, about chest-level. She decides not to comment on it.

"How are you?" she asks.

Kim makes a muffled noise into her pillow that Trini can only assume is meant to convey, well, whatever "Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" is meant to convey.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

Rolling over, Kim sits up in her bed, leaning against the headboard and huffing. "Not particularly," she mutters, running a hand through her hair and messing it up.

Trini shoves her hands in her pocket and looks at Kim in concern; Kim doesn't return her gaze and stares at the closet door. "I felt it," Trini murmurs, "I felt you."

"Yeah, I can imagine that'd be why you and everyone else is here," Kim says, flatly.

Jason's pain had been tolerable, manageable, for Trini. Whatever had triggered his panic attack, whatever he was going through, it hadn't been strong enough to hurt Trini _through_ him. But, this… sitting in Mass while her brain was picking up what she had assumed could only be Kim's pain because only _Kim_ hurt _that_ deep. Trini had wanted to tear her skin off.

" _Kim,_ " she says, firmly, and Kim finally looks at her, pausing at the sight of tears welling up in Trini's eyes.

"Trini--"

"I know you're hurting on the inside," Trini continues, not moving to wipe away a tear as she blinks and it rolls down her cheek, "I don't have to feel it right now, but I-I know. I don't… I don't care if you wanna hide it from me because you wanna put up a tough front or whatever, but I know and I want _you_ to know that I'm… I'm here for you."

Kim is speechless, just staring at her, before something in her brain tells her to get moving and she clears her throat, motioning for Trini to join her on the bed, "Here, sit down, please."

Trini obliges, sitting down next to Kim and also leaning against the headboard.

"I know you're not the type to like listening to someone vent--" Kim starts, hesitantly.

"No, it's okay," Trini interrupts, "Talk to me, please."

Kim shakes her head, "Okay, well, I don't… really wanna talk about it right now. I've had a rough morning."

Trini nods, understandingly, "Yeah, that's fair. I just want you to know that you can always talk to me, okay? Like, I know, badass Trini doesn't like people and is scary…" She takes a chance at cracking some humor because Kim's always seemed to like making dark jokes of her own, so.

Kim snorts and smiles a little bit at that. Trini smiles herself in triumph. "Uh-huh," Kim teases, "More like _seems_ scary."

"You wanna hustle, Hart?"

"No," Kim mumbles, leaning her head on Trini's shoulder, "'m tired." After a few seconds, she asks, "Is this okay?"

"Yeah," Trini says, softly. She holds her hand out, palm up. Reluctantly, Kim slips her fingers through Trini's and tightens her grip when she realizes Trini isn't going to pull her hand away.

"I wanna take a nap," Kim slurs, yawning loudly.

Trini chuckles in amusement and slightly shrugs, careful not to disturb Kim leaning on her, "Go ahead. You deserve some rest."

"You sure?" Then, Kim asks, almost in a whisper, her voice starting to waver, "Are you… are you gonna stay? I don't mind, you know, if you have to go since you're still grounded--"

Trini cuts in, her heart aching with Kim's words. "No, no," she says, quickly but softly, reassuringly, "I'm still gonna be here, Kim, I promise."

"Okay." Kim falls silent after that, and Trini listens to her breathing, a little shaky at first, until it evens out and Kim drifts off to sleep.

 

* * *

 

"Ahh!" Tommie's vision goes dark as a motorcycle helmet is shoved over her head -- but backwards. Grumbling to herself, she pulls the helmet off and whirls around, glaring at Emily, who almost knocks another helmet off of the shelf while doubling over laughing. "You _ass._ "

"You just make it so easy," Emily says between breaths.

Tommie frowns and pulls her phone out, opening the front-facing camera to check how badly her hair got messed up.

Emily rolls her eyes and reaches for her, "Here, I got you--"

"Hell, _no,_ " Tommie steps away, pointing a finger at Emily, "You're gonna do something."

"I don't _always_ have to do something."

"But you do. You will. I'm watching you."

Emily shakes her head, "Just pick one out already."

Tommie finishes fixing her hair and puts her phone away, scowling, "I'm not gonna be able to make a choice in _peace_ if I have to watch my _back_ every second."

"Oh, my gosh, I'm not--" Emily sighs and turns, walking down to the end of the aisle. She throws up her hands and calls out, "There, you happy?"

"Very!" Tommie shouts back, unnecessarily loudly. It takes her about ten minutes to pick out a helmet she likes, mostly because she wants to mess with Emily, who wanders off after about three minutes. She runs her fingers over the helmet she settles on -- simple, plain, matte army green. Something with a gold accent would be nice, but, unfortunately… Tommie shakes her head, takes the helmet off of the shelf, and goes to track down where Emily went, brushing off the thought. She didn't even like gold. Weird.

 

* * *

 

Before Kim opens her eyes, she can already feel the warmth of a body next to hers. Quickly remembering that she fell asleep on Trini, Kim opens her eyes, hoping she wouldn't be looking irritation in the face. Instead, her arm is over Trini's waist and Trini's arm is draped over her shoulder, holding her close. Sometime during her nap, Kim had snuggled into Trini's side while Trini stayed sitting up against the headboard. Kim frowns, instantly feeling bad. That must not have been comfortable.

Trini herself is asleep, but when Kim tries to very, very slowly and very, very gently move away before Trini wakes up… Trini wakes up.

"What're you doing?" Trini asks, sleepily, her eyes still closed.

"Um… getting up?" On cue, her stomach growls, "I'm hungry."

Trini sighs, opening her eyes and lifting her arm so that Kim can properly sit up. "Sleep well?"

"Yeah," Kim says, simply, rubbing her eyes, then smiles at Trini, "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," Trini mutters, getting out of Kim's bed, "Can I use your bathroom?"

"Go ahead," Kim gets up herself and stretches, grabbing her phone from the bedside table and taking a sip of water while she's at it, "Don't mention what?" She taps her phone and looks at the time. 6:13 PM. Ugh, seriously? She hadn't meant to nap _that_ long.

Trini closes the bathroom door and says, muffledly, "Exactly."

Opening her bedroom door, Kim jogs down the stairs, expecting to come into an empty kitchen. The lights are still on, but as she rounds out the last step, she pauses, seeing Kimberly and Tommy cuddling on the couch and watching TV, Jason and Billy sitting at the island, and Zack sprawled out on the floor next to the couch.

Kimberly nods at her, giving her a small smile, and nudges Zack with her sock, "Look who's up."

Zack groans, "Don't wanna get up."

Tommy rolls his eyes and holds out a hand, yanking Zack up into a sitting position.

"Hey, babe," Zack grins.

"Gross," Kimberly sticks her tongue out in pretend disgust.

Kim comes up behind the couch, leaning over it to look at Kimberly. "Thought you guys would've left by now," she says, casually, but she doesn't mean it casually.

Kimberly raises her eyebrows, "Is that your way of saying thanks for sticking around? 'Cause, if so, there's some things you need to work on. Do you take constructive criticism?"

"Absolutely not."

"That's fair."

"We just wanted to be here when you and Trini woke up," Jason says, "And, now, you're awake, so I gotta go before I get busted." Jason gets up from the counter and waves goodbye, teleporting away.

Trini comes down the stairs just as Jason's body starts to dematerialize and calls out with a straight face, "Fine, then! Bye, hoe!"

A moment later, Jason teleports back in, scowling. "Good _bye,_ Trini."

She smiles, cheekily, "Bye, Jay."

 

* * *

 

Kim and Billy are the last ones left after Jason leaves, Trini and Zack make plans to go to Trini's house to study for their history test, and Kimberly and Tommy go out to eat dinner together.

"You don't have anything to do?" Kim asks, opening her fridge and finding two ham and cheese sandwiches in plastic wrap with a sticky note that says _Kim :)_ in her handwriting. Well, in Kimberly's handwriting. Cute. Kim grabs the sandwiches and sits down at the counter, unwrapping them.

Billy shrugs, "No, I'm done with everything. I just didn't want to leave you alone since everyone else left."

Kim gives him a fond smile, "Aw, thanks, Billy."

"Have you written Jordan's paper yet?"

Kim pauses, her sandwich halfway to her mouth. "Shit," she mutters, "I was planning on doing that tonight… then I kinda forgot with, you know, this morning."

"Well, that's okay," Billy says, glancing at his watch and then at his phone, "You've still got plenty of time. The submission link doesn't close until tomorrow morning at seven, so I think you're good." He peers at her, "Can you write essays last minute like this? Do you have an idea for a thesis in mind?"

Taking a bite, chewing, and swallowing before she answers, Kim nods, "Uh, yes and yes. I've had an idea for awhile, I just… didn't wanna start on the paper. I just need a couple of hours to work, and I should be good."

"Okay," Billy nods, smiling, "Do you wanna go somewhere? I can keep you company while you work on it."

Kim takes another bite of her sandwich and chews thoughtfully, "Uh, I'm feeling… ice cream for dessert."

"There's that place that just opened up last week, uh, Junior's… something? It's on Seventh and Hawkins. We can go check it out, see if you can set up shop there."

"Yeah, I'd like that."

 

* * *

 

As Kim locks the front door behind her, Billy taps her on the shoulder.

"Are you okay to drive?" he asks, curiously.

"Yeah, I'm fine." When he keeps looking at her, she gives him a soft smile, "Billy, really, I'm fine. I can drive us."

"Okay," Billy concedes but doesn't sound completely convinced, "I just wanna make sure because, I mean, I can drive, if you don't feel up to it. I don't really drive, but I _can._ Theoretically."

Kim chuckles, unlocking her BMW and tossing her backpack in the backseat. Billy does the same. "I think you did fine the one time you drove us," she jokes, lightly.

"You mean when that train hit us," Billy states, "That wasn't 'fine'."

Kim shrugs as she opens the driver's door and gets in, "We lived."

"We were an outlier, Kim," Billy sighs, shaking his head as he gets into the passenger seat, "Doesn't really count."

Kim buckles her seatbelt and starts the car.

"Oh, wait," Billy interjects, "Before we go…" He pulls something out of his pocket and holds it out to her. It's a flat seashell, painted in soft tones of blue and white, with a string attached to hang it. "Jason got me this," he says, smiling eagerly, "It's, like, a thing that me and my mom do, and, well, my dad used to do, too. We hang it in the car, and then we swing it before every ride for good luck."

Kim closes her eyes for a moment and tells herself to breathe because the grin spreading on her face feels like it could break her open. "Um, so, this one's for me? My car?" she asks, her heart doing a little skip. Billy sharing something was… really special.

He nods, "I was wondering if I could hang this one up in your car, yes."

"Yeah, sure, go ahead."

Billy hangs the seashell on her rearview mirror and smiles proudly.

Kim reaches out, running her thumb over the seashell's ribbed edges, then taps it gently with her fingers.

 

* * *

 

Tommie loudly sighs for what feels like the millionth time today as Emily dips her spoon into _her_ ice cream bowl.

" _Why_ do you insist on torturing me for the rest of my life?" she exclaims, rolling her eyes.

Across from her and Emily, Edward and Rachel sit against the wall in a booth, sharing an ice cream bowl of their own. Edward chuckles and shakes his head while Rachel sighs.

"Girls, play nice."

"She hasn't been playing nice all day," Tommie mutters, accusatorily, "Send us to Walmart for groceries, and she bullies me the entire time there."

"Not on the ride over," Emily points out, innocently.

"Because _you_ were driving, and it's a _motorcycle!_ "

"I bought you a helmet," Emily teases, dipping her spoon into Tommie's bowl again, "I deserve a thank you."

"With Rachel's credit card, yeah, whatever," Tommie rolls her eyes, "Can you stop? You have your own _right there,_ and it's the _same_ flavor."

Emily licks her spoon and grins, "Yeah, but it tastes so much better when I'm stealing from you."

Tommie groans and looks at Edward and Rachel, "Do you guys have siblings? Do you have to put up with this?"

Rachel shrugs, "I have a brother, but we've grown out of that. He's busy with his own family."

"My sister was never really around," Edward says, not quite frowning but his tone isn't happy, either, "So, I can't say that I… how do you kids say it? I can't relate." He laughs.

It's Emily's turn to sigh, " _Dad._ "

 

* * *

 

"Ah," Kim says, getting out of the car and looking at the ice cream parlor sign, "It's _just_ Junior's."

"You mean, _Just_ Junior's," Billy corrects.

"That's what I said."

They get their backpacks out of the backseat and walk into the parlor, but Kim immediately stops once she gets through the door, causing Billy to bump into her.

"What--"

"Shit, shit, Mr. Jordan's here," Kim hisses, trying to backtrack, but Billy has a big frame and she can't turn around and hightail it out of there in time.

With just her luck, Edward happens to look over at the door at that moment and waves at them.

Billy waves back, and Kim sighs. She couldn't leave now. Fuck's sake. Trying not to hang her head, she lets Billy tug her by the sleeve of her t-shirt over to the Jordans' table out of politeness. Edward sits at a booth against the wall, Rachel next to him, and across from them in two chairs are Emily and brunette in a light green t-shirt who Kim doesn't quite recognize.

Emily reaches over to steal some of the girl's mint chip ice cream, and the girl slaps her hand away before turning to look at Billy and Kim.

"Hi," Billy greets the table, waving adorably.

The girl meets Kim's gaze, and Kim loses ability to think. _Holy shit, she is really cute._

"Kim, say hi," Billy whispers, but she's sure the table heard him, anyway.

"Uh," Kim looks at Mr. Jordan instead because that seems safer, "Hi… family outing?"

Edward smiles, "Yes, actually, _someone's_ first in Angel Grove."

The girl rolls her eyes and chuckles, "I went to Em's game yesterday."

"Your first time having ice cream in Angel Grove, then."

"Oh, cool," Kim finds that the moment she opens her mouth, she doesn't know how to make words quite work, "So, you just moved here? Are you, uh…" She almost asks if the girl is an exchange student, but she doesn't have an accent. But, then again, not all exchange students have accents because that'd be racist to assume, and now, she's thinking too much.

"Sister," Emily supplies, and the girl huffs.

"More like she's my significant annoyance," the girl complains.

"Your fault that you're younger."

The girl opens her mouth to say something then closes it and turns back to Billy and Kim, "Yeah, I just moved here. Philadelphia." She holds her hand out for them to shake, "Tommie Oliver. Tommie with an i-e."

Kim's brain short circuits, and time ceases to exist.

She stands, frozen, and doesn't reach for Tommie's hand, so Billy does first, not-so-subtly jabbing Kim in the side while he shakes Tommie's hand.

"Good to meet you, Tommie. That's a nice name," he smiles, "I'm Billy, and this is Kim. She doesn't really talk much."

"Thanks," Tommie grins, proudly, "I picked it out myself."

Next to her, Emily groans and puts her head in her hands. "That's getting old," she mutters.

"So are you," Tommie counters.

"Uh, nice to meet you, Tommie," Kim mumbles. The name feels weird in context on her tongue. She bites the inside of her cheek, wishing she could disappear into the ground.

"You two here to hang out? The ice cream is pretty good," Edward asks.

"Wish I _knew_ what it tasted like," Tommie remarks, sarcastically, glaring at Emily, who just flashes a cheeky smile.

"Yeah, _j_ _ust_ to hang out," Kim falters, instinctively touching her backpack strap, "Not to work on papers or anything…"

_God, why do I ever open my mouth?_

Edward raises his eyebrows. Beside him, Rachel snorts but tries to hide it as a cough out of politeness. "Well, we're not in school right now," he says, amused, "So, even if you were here to work on your paper, I'm not really on the clock to be commenting on how you're waiting until the last minute to do it."

Kim pauses, "There's a lot to unpack in that sentence…" She jerks her thumb at a high table next to the window, "I'm gonna… unpack it over there. Where I… won't be doing a paper. Or will be. I-- Leaving now. Have a good night."

She doesn't miss the way Tommie chuckles in amusement as she and Billy go over to the window and sit down. Kim purposefully sits to where she's at an angle where she can see Tommie from the back. Billy stares at her as he pulls his laptop out of his bag and opens it up.

"You-- you heard her name, right?" Kim asks, excitedly, "Like, that wasn't just me?"

"Nope, I heard it," Billy confirms, waiting for the rest of her enthusiasm to show itself.

"Holy _shit,_ " Kim lowers her voice to a whisper, "I get to marry _her?_ "

Billy blinks at her, "Not to be a downer, Kim, but you don't know that."

She ignores him,"I mean, all this time, I've been worried that I'll be in my 30s and marry some only slightly attractive guy who I hope doesn't care for facial hair, but _man,_ this is _so_ much better."

Billy raises his eyebrows.

"I'm procrastinating on this paper by talking about her," Kim explains. Edward gets up to go to the restroom in the back. Kim sneaks another glance at Tommie, only to look away when Tommie looks over her shoulder right at her; she hastily hides her face behind Billy's laptop, glad that his shoulders are wide, "Shit, she's looking over here!"

Billy shakes his head and sighs, "I don't understand you, sometimes."

A thought occurs to her, "Kimberly and Tommy would probably wanna know about this. I mean, I'm sure Tommy would _definitely_ wanna know about this. I mean, he's a hot girl, now," She pulls out her phone and finds the Ranger Bunch group chat then subtly pretends like she's texting but, instead, takes a quick picture of the Jordans' table and sends it off.

_[KH 7:42 PM] (image attachment)_

_[KH 7:42 PM] you guys WILL NOT believe who billy and i just ran into at just junior's_

_[T 7:42 PM] ugh r u gonna make us guess bc im not guessing_

_[ZT 7:42 PM] beyonce???_

_[JS 7:42 PM] that is a TERRIBLE guess_

_[ZT 7:43 PM] she said guess and i wanted 2 be funny_

_[ZT 7:43 PM] im funny right babe???_

_[KO 7:44 PM] Gross._

_[KO 7:44 PM] Also, I don't know that woman or the other two of which I can only see the back of their heads. Who are they?_

_[KH 7:44 PM] yea sure you're funny babe_

_[KH 7:44 PM] the blonde girl is this kid from school and the other lady is her mom_

_[KH 7:45 PM] but the girl sitting next to emily_

_[KH 7:45 PM] she said her name was tommie oliver_

_[ZT 7:45 PM] holy shit what_

 

* * *

 

Kimberly's heart sinks in her chest. She glances up from her phone at Tommy, who has a grim look on his face as he sets his phone down on Adam's kitchen counter.

"What?" Adam asks, looking between the two of them, "You guys look like you've just seen a ghost."

"Well…" Kimberly tries to speak around the stone in her throat, suddenly feeling slightly nauseous, "You could… you could say that."

"Um," Tommy is pale, too, "Kim just sent us a text." He scrolls up on his phone then hands it over to Adam to read.

"Hey, I know them," Adam says, offhandedly, looking at the picture, "I volunteer with that woman, and the blonde is one of my students."

"Do you-- do you know the girl sitting next to the blonde?" Kimberly manages to choke out.

"No, I don't think so--"

"Scroll down."

"Oh, shit," Adam breathes.

Oh, shit, indeed.

Kimberly shakily exhales and looks at Tommy, who bites on his lower lip, anxiously. "So, Tommy Oliver," she says, after a long few minutes of silence, "He didn't come to Angel Grove, after all."

Tommy shakes his head, "No… but _she_ did."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there's a gaming sins video somewhere about Life is Strange that pointed out that teenage dramas always start episodes/chapters/levels/the whole game with the protagonist waking up and EVER SINCE i watched that video, i'm always irrationally angry @ myself bc i'll notice myself making everyone wake up all the time like.... hhhhhhhhh the worst cliche
> 
> this chapter was uhhhhhh back to the shorter style i had pre-chapter 9 and i'm calling myself out for it ldkjsfhsakjfh however it's part 1 of a 2-parter so... 2nd part is gonna be longer hopefully
> 
> happy almost-one year of power rangers (2017)! :D


	13. The Girls Next Door, Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tommie befriends the Rangers on her first day at Angel Grove High, quickly taking to Kim and Trini. Putting their evil plan into motion, Rita and Zedd offer a Ranger an ultimatum that has lethal consequences.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> rating change... here we go folks :)
> 
> an announcement... **legacy turns ONE today, april 13th!!!** wow!!! i'm so glad to have gotten this far on this journey and that those of you guys who've been here from the start, thanks for being here, and to those of you who've been hopping on as time went by, thanks for joining and staying!  <3
> 
>  **chapter-specific warnings:** character death (major), claustrophobia, graphic-ish violence, kidnapping, mind manipulation, psychological horror, implied sex, and mentions of prior self-harm.

"Can you summon them?" Kimberly asks, tilting her head back to look up at Zordon.

"You realize that what you're suggesting is sudden and abrupt," Zordon responds, "You don't want them to know, but they'll be suspicious."

"We'll come up with something," Tommy says, glancing away.

"Very well," Zordon says and leaves it at that, "Alpha, summon the Rangers."

Faintly, they hear Alpha's affirmative from where he's working in the cavern. A minute passes, and then, four flashes of light fill the Command Center. Kimberly squints at Jason, Trini, Zack, and Billy.

"Where's Kim?"

"Right here," comes the answer from behind her, and Kimberly turns around to see Kim sitting on the steps of the room, a backpack on her back, holding her laptop. She doesn't look up and keeps typing.

"She has a paper due tomorrow morning," Billy explains, "We were driving back to her house when you called us."

"I'm in the zone," Kim mutters, "Don't talk to me."

Oh- _kay._

"What's going on, Zordon?" Jason asks, taking on his leaderish tone, "Why'd you call us? Are more Putties appearing?"

"No," Zordon says then directs their attention to Kimberly and Tommy, "There's an important matter that needs discussing."

Kimberly bites the inside of her cheek, knowing that the road ahead of her forks in two ways. The kids turn to her and Tommy, waiting intently for one of them to speak. "I, uh, know it's late, but we felt like this should be brought up before you guys started the school week, so here we are." She and Tommy had waited for about an hour before coming to the ship. That seemed like a good enough time for the connection between these two _completely_ unrelated topics to be forgotten, right?

"What's up?" Trini tilts her head, gazing at Kimberly.

She makes a mental note to be very, very careful in the next few minutes. One slip could be easily caught by Trini, and then, everything could go crashing down.

"Apex is watching," Tommy starts, crossing his arms. It looks like a serious gesture, but Kimberly knows him. His anxiety sits in his stomach, and he's cradling it, trying to stop it from consuming him. "Kimberly and I have been talking, and we don't think it's best to sit around and wait for them to send us a threat -- or worse. You guys need to be prepared if it turns out that their intentions are not in line with ours." Kimberly keeps her face blank, but on the inside, she shakes her head at how it's questionable if _they're_ even on the Rangers' side. With every word, they're just digging themselves into a deeper hole, supposedly, for the greater good.

But, who determines that? What makes something the greater _good?_

 _The path to hell is paved with good intentions,_ Kimberly muses.

"Okay, so, what do you suggest we do?" Jason raises his eyebrows, "Take the fight to them first?"

"No, no," Kimberly shakes her head, "We don't know what Apex is capable of yet, but the least we can do is prepare you guys."

"How?"

"Weapons."

"Weapons…" Zack echoes, "Like… guns?"

Tommy nods at Jason, "Sort of. He's the only one with something. If Apex were to escalate to fighting, what would you use? They've got guns. And probably more than that."

Trini scoffs, "Whatever's closest that I can throw at them."

Zack pointedly steps away from her and moves to Billy's other side.

Images appear on the Grid, catching everyone's attention, and Kimberly holds her breath as it shows her their past, the five of them fighting a monster in their early days. Weapons are in their hands, and the way that she and the others had taken to them… Kimberly could never have truly explained how easy and _natural_ it had been to feel a bow in her hands, but she had never shot a day in her life. Her powers had taken care of that for her, and over time, she had made sure that her skill was real.

A sword, a pair of daggers, an axe, a double-bladed lance, and a bow.

"Alright," Zack says, holding his hands out, "Where are they, then?"

"Jason's sword is the last thing left of my team," Zordon says, "The rest of the arsenal that my team and I used were lost in our battle with Rita. We will have to forge new weapons for you all."

"Okay… how?" Trini asks, "You got any extra anvils just lyin' around?"

The door slides open, and Alpha walks in, "No need for that, Rangers. We have the means to make you weapons in the ship. As you've witnessed with Jason's sword, it comes from his armor and, when he sheathes it, it disappears back into the armor."

Kimberly's never seen it in action, but the Grid supplies images to aid Alpha's explanation. "So, it's… part of his suit?"

"Precisely, Kimberly!" Alpha nods, excitedly, and Kimberly is struck by a nauseating sense of nostalgia. She shoves it down without hesitation.

"I can forge the weapons from pieces of your suits," Alpha say to the Rangers, "I just need to take a sample and should have them finished by tomorrow night."

"Tomorrow night?" Billy muses, "That's quick."

"I'm putting the finishing touches on the elevator in the cavern, too," Alpha adds, "In case teleportation is ever down, should an emergency call for that."

"That's _really_ quick."

"Okay," Kim says, quickly, setting her laptop and backpack aside and getting up, "How do you get a sample? Like, whatever it is you need, I got you." She fidgets from foot to foot, and everyone stares at her.

"That paper's really got you going, huh?" Billy asks.

"I'm gonna kick this paper's _ass,_ so I just want this over with already."

"Well," Alpha says, slowly, a bit apprehensively, "With how durable your armor is, there's very little that's been built by humans that can penetrate it."

"Are you saying we're _bulletproof?_ " Zack exclaims, his face lighting up with excitement.

"Not a good enough reason to use the word penetrate," Kim sighs, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

"Please don't answer that," Trini interrupts when Alpha looks like he's going to seriously answer Zack's question, "It'd be so much better to see him try to figure it out."

"This ship wasn't built by humans, though," Billy comments.

Alpha nods, "Exactly, Master Billy. Thankfully enough, we already have access to something that _would_ be able to break through your armor enough for me to get a sample -- the Zords' laser beams."

Kimberly raises her eyebrows and chuckles when Kim takes a giant step back. "Uh, the _Zords?_ " Kim blinks, baffled, "What, you mean, in order to get a sample of our armor, you need to _shoot_ us with the Zords? You can't just… use a steak knife? Hell, _I'm_ not gonna find out if I can survive getting shot point blank by a _Zord._ "

Trini looks pointedly at Jason and Zack, who both edge further away from her.

"Oh, no, absolutely not, Kim," Alpha amends, quickly, "The Zords' lasers can cut through your armor, but I have something for that--" He scrambles off down the hallway, and Kimberly hears loud clattering as he looks for… whatever it is he's looking for. He returns shortly with what seems to be a small blowtorch. Alpha presses a button on it, and a controlled laser comes out of the tip, the size of a flame. "It's perfectly harmless!" he says, proudly.

"We could have _lightsabers_ in under a month," Zack whispers, excitedly; Jason elbows him.

"Perfectly harmless?" Kim asks, doubtfully, "You said that's a _laser._ "

"At the same intensity as the weapons your Zords use, yes," Alpha nods, "But refined to be more practical. You said you wanted to volunteer first, Kim?"

Kimberly turns and stifles her laugh into Tommy's sleeve.

"Uh…" Kim clears her throat, "I'm not… going to catch on fire, am I?"

"Not remotely," Alpha answers, "My calculations are accurate _and_ precise. You don't even need to fully morph; I just need a small piece of your armor."

"Reassuring," Kim mutters, "Uh, okay… here we go." She holds out her right arm and concentrates, pink armor materializing over it like a second skin, then squeezes her eyes shut and turns away.

Alpha brings the blowtorch close to her arm, neatly shaving away a slice of metal. It clunks to the floor, making Kim jump and squeak, much to her embarrassment. There's clearly a small section of her armor missing, now, but just as quickly as Alpha had cut it off, a new piece regenerates into place.

Kim blinks then dematerializes her armor, "That's sick as hell."

 

* * *

 

Alpha gets samples from the other Rangers, goes to store the samples somewhere else in the ship, and the Rangers get ready to go back to their evenings.

"Training starts tomorrow night," Kimberly says, "After dinner sound good for everyone?"

"You're gonna _train_ us?" Zack raises his eyebrows, smiling a bit too eagerly.

"I'm glad you're excited about getting your ass kicked," Kimberly counters, teasingly, "You've seen what Tommy and I can do."

They make plans for tomorrow night, and the Rangers leave in colorful flashes while Kimberly and Tommy stay behind and head down to The Pit.

"I'm assuming you heard about the new girl in town?" she asks, loudly.

Zordon's voice echoes from the ship, _"Yes, I'm aware of Tommie Oliver."_

"So, then, you know how this goes," Tommy says, "We can't be sure if she's going to end up being a target, but it's better to be safe than sorry."

"We need to make sure Rita -- or anyone else -- doesn't get to her," Kimberly agrees, nodding, then calls out, "Hey, Alpha, can you make holograms of more than just Putties?"

Alpha's voice crackles back in response over the comms, _"Such as?"_

"Weapons, but, like, practice ones. Simulating wood, preferably."

_"One moment."_

Two staffs materialize in their hands.

"Like old times," Tommy says, grinning and dropping into a fighting stance.

Kimberly raises her eyebrows, amused, "Oh, you mean like when I used to wipe the floor with you?" She takes a more relaxed stance, holding her staff to rest against her shoulder like she would a sword, but she's guarded, ready. Tommy has a longer reach, a bigger frame, more weight, and overall, more experience than she does.

She's prepared when he lunges for her, putting all of his weight into a strike aimed for her side. Her advantage is her speed, her agility. For every step Tommy takes, he has to be careful because he creates an opening that she can exploit. And, for every step she takes, well, she's not slow like him. Kimberly drops into a slide, Tommy's staff delicately _whooshing_ just inches away from her head, and comes up behind him, already bringing her staff swinging for the back of his knees. Stumbling backwards, Tommy whirls around and only just manages to block her strike in time, grimacing with effort.

Their staffs clack together, every move complemented by a block, every jab complemented by a narrow dodge. There's too many close calls to count, elbows coming within a hair's breadth of faces. For every breath that Tommy breathes out, Kimberly breathes in, sweat plastering her shirt to her skin. They haven't sparred like this in years, not really since getting married. Exercise and _exercise_ together, sure, but sparring like this, making sure that the other is still prepared for a fight is reserved for when they know they need to be in tip-top shape. On the front of stranger things, it's all been quiet for over two years since the Armada or, at least, until now, back where they started, in Angel Grove.

Kimberly thinks for a moment too long, she blinks, and Tommy's staff halts an inch from her neck, coming to a perfect stop.

Tommy relaxes and draws back, leaning on his staff. "Where were you?" he asks, his eyebrows raising just a fraction.

"Thinking," she answers because she always is.

"About?"

"Us," Kimberly says, catching her breath, gesturing to them and The Pit around them, "Preparing like this. Like we have something to be prepared for."

"We do," Tommy replies, wiping a hand across his forehead, "You know we do."

"If we stop it in time?"

Tommy shrugs, "We were cautious and planned beforehand, which, you know, is never a bad practice."

"And…" Kimberly swallows, not even wanting to entertain the thought, "If we can't? If we don't?"

Tommy presses his lips together, shaking his head just ever so slightly, "Then, we need to make sure the kids will be ready." After a moment, he adds, cracking a smile to break the heavy air, "Maybe _actually_ give them a challenge."

Kimberly lets out a small, offended gasp and raises her eyebrows. "Oh, so, it's like that, huh? Alright, fine, you want a challenge? Alpha, give us some Putties!" she calls out.

_"Right away, Kimberly -- how many?"_

"One," Tommy answers; at the same time, Kimberly says, without missing a beat, "Four."

" _Four?_ " Tommy exclaims, "No, don't--" But he's too late.

Four holographic Putties sprout up from the ground, shimmering into solidity, surrounding the couple from all sides in a wide circle. Swallowing in hesitation, Tommy retreats against Kimberly, pressing his back against hers. Kimberly hears a soft _whoosh_ as Tommy twirls his staff. The four Putties surrounding them don't move toward them but follow their movements as Kimberly and Tommy shift from foot to foot, trapped in the middle.

"Four?" he repeats, nudging her with his elbow, "Seriously?"

"Be glad I didn't say _eight,_ " she replies, chuckling, "Hey, Alpha, I don't need this staff anymore. Make a trade?" Immediately, the staff in her hands disappears.

_"What would you like?"_

"A bow," Kimberly responds, "One arrow."

Tommy sighs, "God, and everyone thinks _I'm_ the crazy one."

A holographic bow and just one arrow materializes in her hands. Kimberly closes her hand around the grip, the cold metal familiar and warm between her fingers, and nocks the lone arrow in its place. She chuckles, "Maybe you're rubbing off on me, babe."

She takes off running first, heading straight for the wall in front of her, bolting past the two Putties that have fixed their attention on her, thundering after her with their brash footsteps. Kimberly hears Tommy curse as the presence at his back disappears and the sound of his shoes skidding against the dirt and his staff whistling through the air. Her feet thump against rocks as she goes up the wall as far as she humanly can then kicks off, using the momentum she built up to transition into a backflip. The nearest Putty is her target, and as it swings a fist for where she had just been on the wall, it turns, trying to track her.

She lets the arrow fly loose. It zips through the air and lands dead center, the tip partially sinking into the Putty's chest as if it were made of clay, but Kimberly assumes that's just an addition of Alpha's hologram. Arrows don't cut through stone golems. Kimberly lands on her feet, wincing at the jolt in her ankles, but she shakes it off, not giving the brief jab of pain any satisfaction. Running toward the Putty that she had shot, she leaps onto it, using its weakened state to easily climb up its limbs to its chest. The Putty is disabled, having had the life shot out of it with her arrow hitting its center, so Kimberly grabs the end of her arrow and pulls, trying to dislodge it.

The other Putty she had dared to take on barrels toward her, seemingly not caring about taking its buddy as collateral damage. It roars, raising two arms to flatten her into the ground, but, at the last possible moment, the arrow comes loose and Kimberly hurls it, pain flaring up in her right shoulder. The arrow jams itself into the second Putty's chest, and it stops dead in its tracks.

The hologram of the first Putty disappears from underneath her, and Kimberly hits the ground, facedown, coughing. "Again?" she mutters then calls out, "You could've given some warning, Alpha!" The arrow clatters to the ground as the second Putty disappears as well.

_"Sorry about that."_

Kimberly gets to her feet, brushing dirt off of her pants and shirt, huffing and running a dirty hand through her hair. She looks across The Pit, finding Tommy in a similar state of disarray.

"One arrow," he sighs, shaking his head, "It was only a _little_ easier with a weapon this time."

She smiles and laughs, "Maybe what we need is some of that superhuman strength the kids have."

Tommy scoffs. "Yeah, sure, like that'll ever happen."

The staff dematerializes from his hands and the bow and arrow follow. Kimberly clenches her hands into fists, missing their presence already. She sighs and looks at Tommy, holding his gaze, feeling the adrenaline already start to slip away. It never lasts, and they could only escape for so long.

 

* * *

 

"What is _this?_ "

Tommie looks up from the box she's unpacking at Emily, scowling when she sees the green mesh blouse Emily is holding up. "Give me that--" She tries to grab it, but Emily backs up, holding it behind her back out of reach, "Don't look through my clothes."

Emily raises her eyebrows, "Well, if I wasn't curious before, now I'm _intrigued._ "

"Give. It. Back." Tommie punctuates every word with an attempt to try and grab the shirt but ends up failing as Emily clambers over her bed and crosses the room, using the boxes Tommie has strewn around the room as a barricade.

"What's the story behind this?" Emily chuckles, "You should wear it to _school_ tomorrow."

"Absolutely _not,_ " Tommie sighs as she makes her way across the room, almost tripping over a box right in front of her, "I… wore it to a rave once. And never again."

"First of all, that's absolutely terrible. Second of all, you haven't given it away yet?"

Tommie shrugs, frowning, "I keep forgetting to."

Emily grins, "You know what? That's because it's a _sign._ You should wear it to school tomorrow."

"Fuck no," Tommie finally gets close enough to snatch the blouse back; Emily lets it go, willingly, still grinning.

"I'll rock paper scissors you for it."

"What?"

"I win, you wear that to school tomorrow," Emily challenges.

Tommie sighs, "Why do I feel like I'm going to regret this?"

 

* * *

 

"Thank for letting me come over, Billy," Kim repeats as she takes a seat at his workbench, waiting to put her laptop down until he carefully sets aside some of the tools and knick-knacks to make space for her, "I'm definitely not gonna get anything done if I'm at home by myself, and Zack's studying with Trini."

"Yeah, no problem," he says, smiling, "Would you mind if I worked on some stuff around here? I don't want to be too noisy or distracting."

"No, you're fine," Kim pulls her earbuds out of her pocket, "I've got music to listen to."

"Alright, cool."

 

* * *

 

The next morning, as quietly as she can, Emily tries to slip out of bed but ends up kicking one of Tommie's boxes that are still out and about in the room, "Shit!" The blinds are closed, unfortunately. Emily fumbles for her glasses on the bedside table. She’d been busy helping Tommie unpack and had just decided to crash in her sister’s room. Well, it was more like Emily laid down, _thought_ about going back to her room for the night, then promptly fell asleep.

"Wha' time is it?" Tommie groggily slurs, rolling over in bed.

"Early," Emily replies, picking her phone up and tapping on the screen. It brightly lights up in her face, and she squints against the harsh glare. "Like, a little after five."

"That's disgusting," Tommie groans, "What're you doing?"

"I run on weekdays, I told you that," Emily nods at her in the darkness but isn't sure if her sister can see her, "Wanna come?"

"Absolutely not. Why… why the fuck would you do that for?" Tommie rolls back over and makes a tired noise, "Go back to sleep."

 

* * *

 

Normally, in the morning, if he got up early enough, Jason would jog for awhile around the docks. His house was close enough to the docks that he could get back in time to take a shower and get ready for school. But, now that he had a communicator to go wherever he wanted, Jason figures it's time for a change.

He teleports himself close to one of the public trails near the quarry, leading in from the Angel Grove Overlook Trail parking lot. Jason materializes behind some bushes, peeking out to make sure nobody saw him. The parking lot is already occupied by a couple of cars. He knows that Kim hikes around here, but she probably hasn't been doing that for some time now, if he had to guess. Maybe he'd see Trini, though, if he happened to pass by the quarry or something.

Jason steps out from behind the bush and is about to head up the trail and deeper into the woods when he hears the loud roar of a motorcycle approaching. He frowns. It's _way_ too early for that. Curiously, he turns and sees a bike pull into the parking lot, grabbing a spot in the front row. The rider is already dressed in an orange running tank and black shorts with a backpack strapped on. Jason walks closer as she takes off her helmet. "Emily!" he calls out, and she looks up.

"Oh, hey, Jason. Didn't know you ran around here," she greets then pauses, rubbing at one of her eyes, "Sorry, contact's bothering me."

"I usually don't, actually. I thought I'd change things up a bit today, but I like to run down by the docks."

"That's cool. I was gonna invite my sister to come along, but she wanted to keep sleeping, which is, you know, understandable. I like my routine, though."

"Tommie, right?" Jason asks, "Billy and Kim ran into you guys last night?"

"Yeah, yeah, Tommie," Emily says as she gets off of her bike and goes about covering and locking it up, "First day of school for her. Exciting."

"She's our year?"

"Mhm," Emily looks at him, adjusting her backpack, "You wanna run together or are you here to do your own thing?"

"I wouldn't mind running together," he answers without having to think about it.

 

* * *

 

Kim materializes in her room in a pink flash of light, just moments before there's a knock on her bedroom door. Shit. She'd fallen asleep at Billy's workbench and only thankfully woke up at the same time to his alarm clock. Apparently, just in time to intercept her dad.

The door isn't locked, but it doesn't open. "Yeah?" Kim calls out.

"Do you wanna get breakfast together?"

"Um," Kim glances down at her clothes -- well, still Zack's clothes -- then goes over to her closet, grabbing a hoodie and pulling it on, "Not really?" _Why'd I say that like a question?_ "I mean, not really. I've got a, um, paper to finish."

"Alright, well, I'm going to work. Have a good day, darling."

Kim sighs as she hears her dad's footsteps retreat down the stairs and heads to the bathroom to freshen up, putting her fist through and widening the hole in her wall without blinking.

 

* * *

 

When Emily gets back from her run, Tommie is dressed and continuing to lazily unpack, glancing through her books and setting them on her bookshelf in alphabetical order.

"Nice shirt," Emily teases, grinning, as she walks by the open bedroom door to go shower in her room.

"Fuck off," Tommie sighs. She grabs her jacket from the closet and tugs it on.

 

* * *

 

Kim is busy _finally_ submitting her paper to Mr. Jordan's submission link on her laptop -- only about thirty minutes _before_ the link closes, no less -- when Zack says, "Oh, damn," and she looks up at the main entrance to the cafeteria. Emily and Tommie walk in with windswept hair, and Kim's brain automatically freezes. She briefly questions the green mesh blouse Tommie is wearing -- only just slipping by the school's dress code because of the black camisole offsetting the, uh, sheerness -- underneath her dark green varsity jacket, but, _damn,_ she makes that color look good.

"Hello? Kim? Earth to _Kim?_ " Zack waves his hand in front of her face.

She doesn't smack his hand away, but when Emily points to their table and she and Tommie start walking over, Kim squeaks, "Oh, God, she's coming over here."

"Who?" Trini asks, looking, then, "Oh, is _that_ Tommie?"

"Yeah," Kim says, somehow getting her mouth to work, "That's… her."

Emily and Tommie stop at the end of the Rangers' table. "Hey, guys, there's someone I'd like you to meet. This is my sister, Tommie."

"So, these are your nerd friends?" Tommie asks, raising her eyebrows, but she smiles when she sees Kim.

"I take offense to that," Jason speaks up, frowning.

"She's not _wrong,_ though," Trini counters, "You _are_ a nerd." Trini offers her hand for Tommie to shake first, "Trini."

"Jason."

Tommie just nods at Billy and Kim.

Zack grins and holds his hand out, "Zack Taylor, the human form of the one hundred emoji."

Kim rolls her eyes and elbows him in the side.

Tommie's eyes light up, though, and she grins, "I love that show!"

"You're _welcome,_ " Emily says, but Tommie ignores her.

She shakes Zack's hand, squinting at the communicator on his wrist, then glances at the others' identical ones, "Nice, uh, matching watches."

"Oh, yeah, um," Zack hastily glances at the rest of the Rangers, pulling the sleeve of his jacket over the communicator, "They were a… gift."

"Family friend," Jason nods, slightly too quickly.

Billy changes the subject before any more follow-up questions can be asked. "Do you have your schedule yet? What classes do you have?"

"Uh, yeah," Tommie pats her pockets then frowns and takes off her backpack, about to rummage through it.

Emily takes a folded square of paper out of her pocket and hands it over, "You gave it to me then walked away."

"Oh, right, thanks."

"Uh, I've got Precal first," Tommie reads, "AP Lit second, AP Bio third--"

"With who?" Kim asks, _knowing_ that she asked that _way_ too quickly when Zack looks down at his food to hide his restrained smile and Trini exhales a little _too_ loudly to just be a regular breath.

Tommie scans the piece of paper, "Whaley."

"Nice," Trini says, coolly, "You've got it with me and Kim." Kim would never admit it out loud, but her stomach flutters with excitement at the possibility of Tommie sharing a class with her. She bites back a wide smile.

Tommie nods, approvingly, and keeps reading, "I've got library work fourth, A lunch, AP History fifth, Studio Drawing sixth, and Chinese III last."

"Oh, we have sixth together," Billy exclaims, clapping a little and smiling widely, "That'll be fun."

 _ <Yeah, and you have Chinese with me,> _ Zack suddenly says in Mandarin.

Tommie's eyebrows raise a little. She blinks in surprise but seems to understand him completely, "Clever."

"I try."

Emily loosely drapes an arm around Tommie's shoulder; Tommie rolls her eyes but doesn't shrug it off, "I'm gonna go give her the grand tour, get her textbooks and stuff, but we'll see you guys at lunch?"

"Oh, great," Tommie fakes a sigh, "I get to have lunch with you, too."

 

* * *

 

Trini heads for her locker after the first warning bell rings, holding her chin up a little higher in attention when she sees who is at the (previously) unoccupied locker just two down from hers. Tommie is busy sticking her textbooks into her locker and putting what she needs for now into her backpack, but when Trini stops at her own locker and dials the combination, Tommie glances up.

"Hey."

"Hey," Trini responds, opening her locker, putting in everything she doesn't need until after lunch, and shutting it quickly, efficiently, "Where are you headed?"

Tommie shuts her locker then slings her bag across her chest and over one shoulder, "Uh, upstairs A hall, I think? I have Rogers."

Trini bites back any sort of reaction, good or bad, at that since, coincidentally, she _also_ has Rogers, but her mind immediately flickers over to how Kim had practically been about to fall out of her seat at the idea of sharing a class with _Tommie Oliver._ Rolling her eyes, she scoffs under her breath. The whole thing -- all of this -- was completely _ridiculous._ And, even more so, Kim's starstruck behavior was…

Trini pauses for a moment as the two of them leave their lockers in J hall and head up the stairs to upstairs A hall, lingering right in front of the first step. _What, Trini?_ she asks herself, _Kim's starstruck behavior is what? Unnecessary? Annoying? Makes you want to snap something in half?_ She frowns then catches up to Tommie, who's already a couple of steps ahead but hadn't even noticed that Trini had fallen behind.

She chances a quick glance at the girl, taking note of her distant gaze even as she walks up the stairs without bumping into anyone coming down. Trini doesn't know much about _Tommy_ besides his name, his approximate-ish age, the fact that he's married to Kimberly, and his sexuality. There's a couple other things, too, of course, things that are just slightly weird about him. That his "first" Ranger color was white -- how many colors did one person even _need_ and how many did he even _have?_ \-- but he wore green quite a lot. It felt somewhat odd to Trini, although, not too odd. She had seen Kimberly not wear pink, sometimes, but red was close to pink. Seeing _Tommie,_ though, clears things up a little bit more. This girl wears a _lot_ of green -- jacket with the insignia of a green dragon on the back, blouse, shoes, bag.

"Green your favorite color?" Trini asks as they reach the top of the stairs and she takes the lead to guide Tommie to their first class.

"Uh, yeah, kinda," Tommie says, glancing down at her clothes, then chuckles, "How can you tell?"

"Must be all the black you're wearing," Trini replies. The classroom door is already open, and Ms. Rogers is inside, copying down the lecture of the day on the whiteboard. As some more students file in, Trini grabs her normal seat in the back corner of the room, which is usually pretty empty. She nods at Tommie, "There's an empty seat next to mine. I mean, if you can see the board from here."

"Thanks," Tommie sits down and shrugs, "I can see fine."

When class starts, Trini keeps her attention to the lecture on hand -- or, at least, tries to, anyway. She can't help how observant she is or how her attention briefly flickers to Tommie every time there's a momentary lull in the lesson as Ms. Rogers erases the board to start fresh.

Tommie's notes are pretty meticulously set-up, Trini notices, even if the handwriting -- at least from where she's sitting -- looks almost illegible. She sits very still, somehow. Trini's aware of almost everyone else in the classroom -- all the pens clicking, legs restlessly shaking, papers rustling, and clothes shuffling -- but the majority of it doesn't come from Tommie. Every now and then, she'll sit a little straighter or shift in her seat and, once, she rolls up her jacket sleeves, but besides that, Tommie Oliver is _quiet._ Trini hasn't met many people like that, people who're actually quiet when they're not talking. Jason, Kim, and Zack are all loud, even when they're just sitting there, because they don't sit _still._ Jason likes to hike his feet up on whatever surface is available, and he tugs at his collar when he's nervous, which tends to be… a lot, lately. Kim fidgets so much on the regular that Trini's surprised that the girl doesn't have some sort of stim toy to play with at this point already, but that's what origami in detention is for, she guesses. And Zack, while he doesn't move around as much as Jason and Kim do, still squirms in his seat a fair amount. The loudest thing about him, really, is that cocky, smug look on his face that's on his face almost 24/7. It's not entirely real, but, _man,_ is it _obnoxiously_ loud. Billy's quieter than the other three, of course, but even from what Trini's observed from lunch and detention, Billy's presence is still makes _some_ noise. His frame is easily the largest out of the five of them, which adds to that, but something about him keeps him from being completely quiet -- a natural energy about him of sorts is the best way Trini can word it.

Trini herself is quiet. She clears her throat and adjusts her position while sitting every now and then if she's stuck sitting down for some time, but besides that, the rest of her is quiet. Her footsteps are purposeful but careful, and Trini's small frame gives her the advantage she was never really interested in getting -- she's already small and can make herself appear smaller, fading into the background when she doesn't want people to take notice of her.

Tommie, however, isn't short. Heck, Trini would probably bet that Tommie is maybe an inch or two taller than Kim, actually. If anything, just seeing Tommie standing and watching her walk familiarizes Trini with the way the taller girl holds herself -- self-assured, guarded, and contained. There's cracks somewhere in armor like that. Trini would know because being with the Rangers has exposed hers, but some other people -- Kim, namely, automatically comes to mind -- have cracks that are already displayed openly, entrances into what they are like on the inside of their heads. Trini can't concentrate on trying to figure out what Tommie is like or even where she'd start looking if she wanted to find those sneak peeks into Tommie's inner monologue, so she just watches the other girl continue to take notes.

Tommie glances up and catches her staring; Trini almost wants to look away, but she decides not to and smiles instead, a small one, just a little quirk of her lips, not necessarily something that would ruin her preceding reputation -- not that the _new_ girl would know anything about that. Without hesitating, Tommie returns the small smile.

 

* * *

 

Before the tardy bell for second period rings, Zack nudges Kim in the side. She's sitting next to him in the back row again; at this point, she's basically abandoned her original seat in the front, but nobody else has grabbed it yet. Nobody else probably wants it. "So," he starts, slowly, "Tommie Oliver…"

"Shut up," Kim mumbles, not looking at him, and pouts, crossing her arms.

Zack smirks, "She's kinda cute."

"Shut _up._ "

"What? I'm just _saying_ that I think she's kinda pretty--"

"I know what you're _saying,_ Zack," she shakes her head as the tardy bell rings and Mr. Walker gets ready to take roll.

"I'm saying that she's beautiful and you're probably gonna propose to her before prom-- _ow!_ "

Kim quickly pulls her hand back and tries to look as innocent as possible when Mr. Walker looks at the two of them in the back row then keeps checking attendance.

"You _pinched_ me," Zack whines, rubbing his neck.

"Here!" Kim calls out when Walker says her name then shrugs at Zack, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

 

* * *

 

As Kim and Zack are leaving B hall, they spot Tommie heading the same direction as them. "Hey, Tommie," she says, coming up next to the girl. Her hand is comfortably in Zack's, but Kim doesn't miss the brief glance Tommie gives them before looking away, and Kim _shouldn't_ but her stomach turns just a little. She grips Zack's hand tighter instead of letting go like she wants to.

"Hey," Tommie greets, "Uh, how long have you guys been together?"

"A couple of days," Kim mumbles, and Tommie laughs, her eyes crinkling in a way that has Kim thinking, _Oh, no._

"Oh, well, then, congratulations are in order, I guess," Tommie says, amused.

Zack proudly puffs out his chest, "Thanks. Kim's real lucky to have me."

Kim rolls her eyes and steps on his foot, almost tripping him, but the fact that she's still holding onto his hand is the only reason why he doesn't go sprawling in the middle of the hallway. He pouts at her, but Kim bringing their entwined hands up and pressing a quick kiss to the back of his is enough to melt his pout.

Suddenly, Trini is there, on Tommie's other side, and Kim feels like dying. "Wow," she huffs, "They're disgusting, aren't they?"

Tommie chuckles, "I think they're cute."

"Try being _friends_ with them."

"Um, excuse me?" Kim frowns at Trini, "We're literally right here. Don't give me the Zack treatment just because I'm dating him." They all arrive in D hall, and Trini and Tommie disappear into their Biology classroom, leaving Kim outside to say her goodbyes to Zack.

Zack smirks at her, wordlessly, and she rolls her eyes, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"Shove off," she mutters.

"I didn't say anything!" he calls after her, laughing.

 

* * *

 

In Art, Brady Larsen comes up to Kim while she's in the middle of staring at her painting and trying to figure out if it's fine the way it is or if she should actually try to polish it up before the due date on Thursday. So, technically, it's not like he's interrupting her.

"Hey, heard you've met the new kid, uh, Oliver or something," Brady says, and Kim has to stop herself from rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, what about her?"

Brady shrugs, "Been awhile since the newsletter's had a New Student Spotlight, so I was just wondering if you had anything to chip in with?"

Kim chuckles and raises her eyebrows, "Brady, maybe you should think about _actually_ interviewing new students instead of everyone _around_ them. You don't want a repeat of what happened with Trini." She says that, but, technically, she _also_ hadn't known Trini had been at AGHS for over a year, either, but Brady doesn't need to know that.

"You think she's still mad about that?"

Kim shrugs, just to tease him.

" _Sooo,_ " Brady asks, drawing out the syllable, "Anyway, what's this about you and Zack?"

Oh, boy.

Kim looks at him, "You follow me on Instagram."

He makes a gimme-more motion with his hand, "Yeah, I do, and?"

"Are you asking as a friend or for The Roar?"

"The Roar _is_ your friend, Kim," Brady says, but Kim only shakes her head at him.

"I think _5 Signs You're Being Ghosted_ would disagree with you," she says, a little clipped.

Brady recoils, pressing a hand to his mouth and pausing before choosing his words very carefully. "Jenny wrote that," he says, finally, "Not me. And, also, she said she asked you for your thoughts--"

"To which I said 'no comment' because my private life is _private,_ " Kim interjects then levels him with a look, "Does that sound fair?"

"Completely," Brady nods a few too many times. He turns to shuffle off to his seat then Kim calls out to him.

"It's spelled with an i-e."

"Hm? What?"

"Tommie Oliver. Her name's spelled T-o-m-m-i-e."

 

* * *

 

 _The Groove_ radio station looks like any other unassuming building in Angel Grove, which, to be fair, is probably a good thing. Kimberly still feels weird walking through the front door with Tommy, though. Angel Grove has felt… surreal so far, like home but not, and while they _have_ talked to Adam, going to see someone from "the old days" who's not a Ranger just feels strange. Nevertheless, she walks up to the front desk and leans her elbows on the counter, asking the young receptionist, "Hey, is Fred in?"

"He's on his lunch break," the woman says, "Do you have an appointment?"

"Um, no, we're just dropping by. Is he on lunch in the building?"

"Yes, he is."

"Cool, uh, can you tell him that Kimberly Hart and Tommy Oliver are here to see him, you know, if he's free to chat?"

The receptionist stares at her as if those names are supposed to mean anything to her then shrugs, "Yeah, sure."

 

* * *

 

Fred's definitely taller than when Kimberly last saw him, but then again, she last saw him when she was in high school and he was still in middle school, so he'd been significantly shorter then. Kimberly's arms are full of Fred as he tackles her up into a hug right after the receptionist leads her and Tommy through a series of hallways and doors into a break room.

"Holy shit!" Fred exclaims, "I haven't seen you guys in forever!"

Tommy laughs and gives Fred a hearty clap on the back, "I mean, we haven't been around here in forever, so that makes sense."

Fred nods at the wedding band on Kimberly's finger and grins, "I always knew you guys would end up together. So, what's it been, like, almost twenty years?"

"Oh, uh," Kimberly nervously chuckles and wrings her hands together, "We've actually only been together for two. There was a… break." _A long ass break._

"Oh, well, that's cool," Fred nods to ease the tension -- and there always was some of that, even when seeing an old friend after a long time, "What're you guys doing? Just happened to be in town or…?"

"Some family stuff," Kimberly says at the same time that Tommy answers, "Just in town."

"Just in town for some family stuff," Kimberly amends, smiling.

Fred frowns a little out of sympathy, "I hope everything's okay."

"Oh, no," Kimberly shakes her head, "Everything's fine. We're crashing with Adam for awhile -- you remember him?"

Fred nods, eagerly, "Of course, I remember _Adam._ We hung out a few times when he first moved back here. I haven't talked to him lately, but I've been meaning to get in touch."

"He seems pretty busy with his dojo," Tommy says, offhandedly, "And he's been helping out with the relief camp in the park." Kimberly bites back a little snicker at _park._

" _Oh,_ " Fred snaps his fingers, "Did he finally get that up and running?"

Tommy furrows his brow, "What do you mean finally? He's had it for almost six years now?"

Fred shakes his head, "No, that's not right, 'cause I started here about, uh, four years ago? Yeah, back in 2012, and he told me that he was planning on settling, eventually, and starting a dojo."

Kimberly raises her eyebrows, "Settling? What do you mean by that?"

"He traveled a lot, I guess, said it was for work," Fred shrugs, "I always had to text him to make sure he was in town if I wanted to grab lunch with him or something. But, anyway, what have you guys been up to?"

Kimberly shoots Tommy a silent glance of confusion, and he only shrugs in response. Something to ask Adam about later, then. "Uh," Kimberly chuckles at the first thought that comes to mind at the topic change, "Well, you won't believe this, but Tommy's a _doctor_ now…"

 

* * *

 

When lunchtime comes, the Rangers add two new spots at their table. Trini sits with Jason and Billy on one side of the table while Emily sits on Kim's right and Tommie sits next to her. It's while Kim's holding hands with Zack under the table that she realizes, _Oh, God, there's a lot of hot people sitting around me right now,_ and almost chokes on her bottle of water.

Tommie doesn't say much, only really responding whenever Emily says something that makes her roll her eyes or whenever someone asks her a question. She isn't too much of a talkative personality, just keeps scrolling and tapping around on her phone with one hand while she eats with the other.

"Hey, Tommie, do you, uh, have an Instagram?" Kim doesn't think it's _too_ obvious when she asks (because it _is_ relevant) but Zack giggles next to her, regardless.

"Yeah, um, it's tkoliver12," Tommie says without looking up from her phone.

Kim has to resist the urge to pick up her phone right then and follow Tommie on Instagram. She frowns, something that only Trini catches by raising her eyebrows at her. Kim frowns harder in silent response.

"Your Instagram's ugly," Emily mutters, scrolling through her phone.

Tommie glances at her, probably offended but managing to keep a straight face. She points her phone at her sister and taps the screen then, after a minute, says, "Well, now, it's even uglier."

Emily gapes at her then looks at the rest of the table. "Did you see that?" she asks, incredulously.

"Yeah, how _dare_ she," Jason responds, chuckling.

"The… audacity."

"Oh, you'll get over it," Tommie sighs.

"You said you moved here from Philly?" Billy asks, curiously, "Have you always lived there?"

That gets Tommie to put her phone down. She runs her thumb along her lips before speaking; Kim, unfortunately, notices the motion with great detail, "Uh, no, I've lived… everywhere, basically. Seattle, Toronto, D.C., Chicago, Harwood, Boston, London, Philly, and, now, here. That's most of them, at least. I lived in Houston for, like, a couple of months, but it was really so short and stupid hot that I just… kinda don't count that."

Zack whistles, lowly, "Damn, must be nice."

Tommie shrugs, the flicker of a frown on her lips, "Yeah, sometimes."

"Harwood _County?_ " Trini asks, the uncertainty and hesitation on her face so completely out of character for her that Kim pauses, unsure of how to process Trini being, well, caught off-guard about many things.

"Yeah," Tommie looks at her and raises her eyebrows, "You lived there?"

"Um," Trini nods, not looking directly at Tommie, "Yeah, for a little while."

"When? I moved away, like, right before all that shit went down."

"About three years ago," Trini all but mumbles.

"Oh," Tommie suddenly sits up a little straighter and leans her elbows on the table, intrigued, "So, like, you were around for those aliens and stuff?"

Trini pauses, going very, very still, "Uh, yeah, yeah, I was."

Kim tenses, sensing something brushing against the edge of her consciousness. Static like a radio station, buzzing. She glances at Zack, wordlessly, who gives her a questioning look, and she hopes he gets her silent message.

"Hey," Zack cuts in before Tommie can go on, grinning, "If you wanna see your fair share of aliens, you've come to the right place. We've got the _Power Rangers_ here."

Kim catches Trini's gaze from across the table. She doesn't know what _that_ was about or what "that shit" was that went down, but it's not hard to catch the slight loosening of Trini's shoulders in relief. Trini silently mouths _Thank you_ while Zack has Tommie distracted with conversation, and Kim nods without hesitation.

 

* * *

 

It's a good thing none of the others have fifth period History with Kim because the moment she sees Tommie walk in through the door -- Kim _hadn't_ rushed off to the classroom after lunch and grabbed her usual seat in the front row while Tommie had said she needed to drop by her own locker, no, of course not -- the chorus of _Maple_ runs through her head, and then, suddenly, the bell is ringing to go to sixth period.

Kim waits until Tommie gets closer to the front of the room (since the only seats available had been in the back) to fall into step beside her. "Hey," she says, casually, hoping she sounds casual, God, liking a girl has never been so hard.

_Like? Who said anything about like? Chill._

"Oh, hey," Tommie asks, "Where are you headed?"

In reality, she's going to A hall for Statistics, but -- if her memory serves her correctly -- she knows that Tommie's headed to Art Studio with Billy, so Kim just says, "Oh, yeah, I'm going this way, too." She lets Tommie lead the way over to C hall and follows behind, "Hey, um, I was just wondering… if you're not busy later today, you know, would you like to hang out at The Grove or something? That's-- that's the mall, by the way." God, okay, her mouth is moving, and she can't make it stop.

Kim closes her eyes and sighs to herself when Tommie briefly smirks. "Yeah, sure, I'd like that. You got a car?"

"Yeah, I have a car," Kim murmurs.

"Nice, I'll meet you in the parking lot after school?" Tommie flashes her a smile and thumbs up that almost -- _almost_ \-- causes Kim to run into another student, but her Ranger reflexes save her at the last moment and she awkwardly steps out of the way. "This is me," Tommie nods at the classroom they arrive at. The door is open, and Kim can already see Billy sitting inside at the front row. He waves at her. Remembering her manners, Kim waves back.

"Alright, then, see you later," Kim returns Tommie's smile and scrambles off to class once Tommie's out of sight before she becomes late.

 

* * *

 

Trini is at her locker, emptying it out for the day, when Tommie comes up next to her to do the same. "Hey," she says, "How'd you like your first day?"

Tommie snorts, slamming her locker shut before Trini is done arranging her stuff, "It… was."

"Yeah, that's fair."

Tommie reaches over and taps the binder that Trini is pulling out and shoving into her backpack, right on the little rainbow sticker in the corner. "Nice sticker, I like that," she says, giving Trini a soft smile that has her thinking maybe it's not just meant to be a casual compliment.

Trini keeps Tommie's gaze for a moment too long and clears her throat, "Uh, thanks." She puts the binder in her bag, does one last glance over her locker to make sure she has everything, and closes the door. "Where are you off to now?"

"Kim invited me to, uh, The Grove? I think that's what she called it."

"The mall, yeah," Trini nods but doesn't look directly at Tommie, "Cool, well, I've got a test to study for, so I'll see you later."

"Alright, see you," Tommie holds out her fist for Trini to bump, which she does so after a moment's hesitation, "Good luck on your test."

"Thanks," Trini mumbles, not really caring either way if Tommie can hear her as she leaves. She pulls out her phone and shoots off a text, first, to Zack:

_[T 2:47 PM] hey im gonna go to the mall and study for history and ur coming w/ me_

_[T 2:47 PM] meet me behind the cafeteria so we can teleport_

Then, to her parents:

_[T 2:47 PM] Can I go to the library to study for my history test tomorrow?_

There isn't a response right away, but nevertheless, Trini pockets her phone and heads for the back of the school.

 

* * *

 

Once seventh period lets out, Kim makes her way to her car to wait for Tommie. The day is over, so, technically, she can't feel guilty about pulling up her Instagram and _finally_ following Tommie. It doesn't seem needy if it's hours after the fact, right? Keeping a fair amount of time in between makes it seem casual. Cool. Like she wasn't waiting to do just that.

 _Can you maybe chill?_ she thinks, huffing to herself. Kim scrolls through Tommie's Instagram, past the picture of Emily that Tommie had posted during lunch, taking note of the ridiculous amount of mirror selfies in _only_ a sports bra and track pants that Tommie has in her most recents. If Kim hadn't already been leaning against her car, well…

Kim pulls up her text messages, creating a new group chat.

 ** _Kimberly Hart_** _added_ ** _Jason Scott,_** **_Zack Taylor,_** **_Billy Cranston,_** **_Trini,_** _and_ ** _Emily Jordan_** _to a group._

_[EJ 2:50 PM] what's this_

_[KH 2:50 PM] lunch group chat :)_

**_Kimberly Hart_ ** _named the group: "lunch… something."_

_[EJ 2:50 PM] oh okay_

**_Emily Jordan_ ** _added_ **_555-1227_ ** _to the group._

 **_555-1227_ ** _changed their name to_ **_Tommie Oliver._ **

_[TO 2:51 PM] who the fck are all these numbers_

_[KH 2:51 PM] Kim Hart_

_[JS 2:51 PM] Jason Scott_

_[BC 2:51 PM] Billy Cranston_

_[BC 2:51 PM] Hi :)_

_[TO 2:52 PM] hey_

_[ZT 2:53 PM] Zack Taylor_

_[T 2:53 PM] Trini_

_[TO 2:53 PM] last name?_

_[T 2:53 PM] u dnt need it im the only trini in school_

_[TO 2:53 PM] uh ok_

_[EJ 2:53 PM] u already have my number…… but Emily Jordan for anyone who doesn't_

_[TO 2:54 PM] who said that? i don't know u :/_

**_Emily Jordan_ ** _changed the group's name to_ **_"Angel Grove One-Seven."_ **

_[ZT 2:54 PM] nice! bc we're all seniors rite?_

_[EJ 2:54 PM] yea_

_[T 2:54 PM] i have no idea what that's referring to_

_[EJ 2:55 PM] u should watch b99_

_[EJ 2:55 PM] theres a new ep coming out tomorrow night. u guys should come over. 1011 Brightwater Circle_

_[BC 2:55 PM] I've never seen it, but I'd love to!_

_[EJ 2:55 PM] awesome glad to have u there!_

_[TO 2:56 PM] pls do not invite people into our house without asking me, the queen, first_

_[EJ 2:56 PM] mum and dad don't care who i have over so ur opinion is useless_

_[TO 2:57 PM] fine smh_

A separate notification outside of the group chat pops up on her screen from an unknown number. It can only be Tommie, so Kim quickly adds the number into her contacts.

_[TO 2:58 PM] hey i’m abt to head out into the student parking lot_

_[TO 2:58 PM] what am i looking for_

_[KH 2:59 PM] don’t worry, i’ll drive up to the curb_

Kim throws her backpack into the backseat, gets into her car, and starts the engine, pulling out of her parking space and driving over to the side entrance of the school where Tommie is waiting.

Tommie gets in, nodding appreciatively at the inside of Kim’s car, “Nice ride.”

“Thanks,” Kim says, “It was my Sweet Sixteen present.”

Tommie whistles, “Wow, nice parents.”

“Yeah, sure.” Her phone buzzes, and Kim glances at it as Tommie buckles herself in.

_[ZT 3:02 PM] i cant beLIEVE u went n made a gc just to get tommie’s #_

“Shut the hell up,” Kim mutters, furiously typing back a response.

“What?”

“Not you. Zack said something… dumb.”

_[KH 3:02 PM] i did NOT………….. it’s a lunch group chat okay???_

_[ZT 3:02 PM] sure jan_

_[ZT 3:02 PM] i mean 11/10 my gf has gr8 taste in girls ;) but also calm down u are desperateee_

_[KH 3:03 PM] shut up_

_[ZT 3:03 PM] maybe tommie can bond w trini over how thirsty u are 4 her_

_[KH 3:03 PM] :/_

_[ZT 3:03 PM] ask her what her ssn is lmao_

_[KH 3:04 PM] i did already, actually, it’s pls-sh-utup_

_[ZT 3:04 PM] ur so funny love u babe_

_[KH 3:04 PM] die_

 

* * *

 

At the end of the day, Jason has to walk by the gym and locker rooms to get to the student parking lot, so he does so but, all the while, grips the strap of his messenger bag a little nervously. One of the gym doors swing open, and he feels slightly more at ease at seeing Beck, who walks toward him.

"Caboose," he greets, noting the almost empty water gallon the other boy has in his hand, "Heading to practice?"

"Hey, Jay, uh, yeah," Beck nods, "How're you doing? You didn't really stop to say goodbye on Friday at Coach's house. Everything okay?"

Jason tenses, "Yeah, yeah, everything's cool. I was just in a rush. Besides, I don't think the guys really care about saying bye to me, so."

"Well… I care."

"I mean, you know," Jason awkwardly rubs his neck, "I'm obviously not talking about _you,_ but, like, Damo and Hawkeye. Marty still seems pissed at me, too."

"Alright, besides those three, some of the guys aren't, you know, super involved. Like, they don't feel one way or another 'bout the prank you guys pulled -- they don't _hate_ you."

"That's reassuring."

"I wanted to talk to you about them, actually," Beck continues, nervously running a hand through his curly hair, "The team."

"Okay…" Jason glances at the door to the student parking lot. He can make it if he runs and, honestly, Beck's always been able to match him, but he's a _superhero_ now, so… Running away from his problems isn't the solution, though, as much as Jason wants it to be.

"Shay and I are throwing a party tomorrow night, starting 'round seven, just a lil' get-together kind of thing," Beck says, "You should come if you're free and bring your friends, too, you know, Kim, Billy…"

"Trini and Zack," Jason fills in for him.

"Yeah, them," he smiles, "It's super chill, you know, I promise Colt won't be there. Made sure the team knows to not invite him. I know you and him aren't exactly friends."

"Not exactly friends is one way of putting it."

"I mean, you slapping him and standing up for Billy is old news, but better safe than sorry, and he's kinda an asshole, anyway."

Jason shrugs, "I was just doing what was right." Then, he asks, fidgeting with his collar, "So… the guys are gonna be there?"

"Yeah, hey, look, if you do decide to come," Beck nudges him on the shoulder, "You know, I've always got your back. If Damo and Hawkeye give you any problems, I'm on your side."

Jason snorts a little, "More like I'd be giving _them_ problems."

"Okay, well, then, I'll hold you back."

He raises his eyebrows and chuckles, "I'd pay to see that, but sure. I'll think about it."

"Alright, cool, door's gonna be open." Beck flashes him a peace sign as he heads for the football field, "See you around, Jay."

 

* * *

 

Zack hadn't asked when Trini had texted him that they were going to the mall. He's fine with studying wherever, and he's not gonna say no to Trini, anyway. As they leave the elevator and walk toward The Grove's food court, Zack drapes an arm around Trini's shoulders, chuckling when she rolls her eyes.

"Alright, I gotta ask--" he starts.

"Why the mall?" she interrupts.

"Uh, no, actually, I was gonna ask what's up with that alien stuff Tommie was talking about at lunch?" Zack finishes.

Trini's eyes darken, and she immediately shrugs his arm off of her shoulder. "I'm not talking about that," she says, coldly, her mouth set in a frown, "You can Google it, if you want to, but I'd prefer it if you didn't."

Zack pauses and blinks, naturally curious and unsure of what to do, "Uh."

Trini turns and expectantly looks at him, "Well?"

He doesn't know if she means that in that she's waiting for him to just pull out his phone and look up the matter for himself or that she's waiting for him to acknowledge her words. Zack goes with the latter. "I understand," he says, "I'm not gonna look it up."

Trini glances away, so he can't get a good read on her reaction, "Nobody's stopping you."

"I respect your privacy," Zack states.

She gives him a once-over then nods and keeps walking, "Thanks."

"Anytime."

 

* * *

 

“Thanks for coming out with me.”

Kim’s words cause Tommie to snicker, and she raises an eyebrow at the other girl.

“What?”

“I’ll come out with you _any_ day,” Tommie replies, smirking. It takes a second, but Kim finally gets the underlying meaning and scoffs, smacking Tommie in the arm.

“Don’t be a jerk.”

Tommie just laughs and leads the way inside The Grove, holding the door open for Kim.

“Me first? I’m flattered,” Kim grins, briefly touching Tommie’s arm as she passes by.

Tommie lets the door close behind her and catches up to Kim, bumping their shoulders together. “Well,” she says with a cheeky smile, “I was always taught to let shorter girls go first-- _ow!_ ”

“I’m literally an inch shorter than you.”

“Yeah, and sensitive about it, too…”

Kim rolls her eyes and heads toward the elevators, pushing the up button and waiting.

“So, did you grow up here?” Tommie asks, shoving her hands in her pockets.

“Mostly. My family and I moved here from Seattle when I was six,” Kim says, stepping into the elevator as it beeps and opens; she holds the door for Tommie, chuckling at the faked look of surprise the other girl gives her, “Yeah, _I_ can be polite, too.”

“Consider me flattered,” Tommie snorts; once Kim is inside the elevator as well, she asks, “Seattle was cool. I don't remember much of it 'cause I was young, but I'd like to go back one day. Where’re we going first?”

Kim jabs the fourth floor button with her thumb, a teasing smile on her lips, “To get you a new jacket.” At Tommie’s offended gasp, she laughs, “I’m just kidding. Food court’s on the fourth level.”

“Good,” Tommie mutters, pulling her jacket closer around her body, “‘Cause there’s no way I’m parting with this baby.”

“Oh, so it’s your baby, huh?”

“Yeah, it’s my most prized possession.”

“It’s a _jacket._ ”

“Whatever. Zack told me in seventh period that you’re married to some leather jacket of yours.”

Kim tugs at the sleeves of her hoodie, “I am _not,_ Zack’s a liar--”

There’s a loud _bang_ as Kim’s cut off, and the elevator comes to a jolting halt with an intrusive _brrrrr_ sound that she can only describe as what the personification of error is. Kim grabs onto the railing, sighing under her breath.

“Sorry,” she says to Tommie, “These damn elevators are always acting up.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” Tommie responds, but the slight strain in her voice has Kim glancing at her in concern. The other girl grips the railing beside her, knuckles white, shoulders rigid.

Kim takes a step closer to Tommie but keeps her hands at her sides, “You okay?”

Tommie’s eyes squeeze shut, and her lips move silently. Kim recognizes the shape of ‘five’, and realizes Tommie’s counting to herself. After she reaches ten, Tommie opens her eyes again, slightly frowning. “Not a big fan of getting stuck in closed spaces,” she mutters, clipped and tense.

“Understandable,” she murmurs, “I’m here, you know, if you need me.” Kim offers her hand, and Tommie eyes it, a smirk coming onto her lips.

She’s starting to hate that smirk.

“This part of your plan to get a pretty girl to hold your hand, Hart?”

Kim coughs and covers it up as a snort, but by the look in Tommie’s eyes, she can see she failed miserably, “Oh, please-- that’s not-- I’m taking back my offer of emotional support, you… _walnut._ ”

“Did you just call me a walnut?”

“You’re frustrating.”

There’s a brief moment of awkward silence where neither of them are moving, then Tommie sidles up closer to her and slips her hand into Kim’s. Kim bristles at the contact but doesn’t pull her hand away and, even though she wants to, doesn’t say anything. She just gives Tommie’s hand a brief squeeze.

“The accident,” Tommie says, after a longer pause, “You know, those rumors that are going around school -- or _about_ to go around school. Happens every time I move. Let's play 'guess the new kid's story and see how right we are.' Like, how many foster homes I’ve been in or whatever. How many of those I was kicked out of, how many… have died.

“One’s died,” she continues, “Just one. The Olivers. Car accident. I, uh, I was… in the backseat. So, yeah, closed spaces. And, I mean, that and, um, the one time I was buried alive.”

“ _What?_ ” Kim turns her head to stare at Tommie in disbelief that she’s sure she could’ve given herself whiplash.

“It was a-- a dream,” Tommie deadpans.

“You could’ve,” she sputters, her mouth still open incredulously, “You could’ve prefaced with that, _instead._ ”

Tommie shrugs.

There’s another loud _bang_ as the elevator begins moving again, and Kim and Tommie both sigh.

“You gonna let go of my hand now?” Kim asks, trying to clear the air. Whether she actually wants Tommie to let go… well, she’s not going to think about that right at the moment.

“Depends,” the other girl muses, “Would your boyfriend be mad if I didn't?”

“You mean Zack?” Kim scoffs, “Not at all.”

The doors finally open as they arrive on the fourth level of the mall, and Tommie walks out first, dragging Kim by the hand. “Then, no,” she says, grinning, “Although, I’m not sure why you said his name as if there’d be anyone else who I’d call ‘your boyfriend.’”

About that…

“No reason,” she mutters, hoping to sound casual enough for Tommie to brush it off.

“Yeah, okay…” Tommie nudges her with her shoulder, raising her eyebrows, “Hey, you know, there’s a coming out joke to be made here.” She motions at their hand-holding with her free hand.

Kim rolls her eyes and sighs, “You’re infuriating.”

“Oh, I _know._ Isn’t it great?”

“Not really.”

Kim leads the way to the food court, humming to herself when she notices Trini and Zack sitting at one of the tables near the front, "Oh, look who it is."

"Hm? Oh, I'll just…"

Kim reflexively clenches her hand into a fist for a second when Tommie lets go, willfully ignoring the thoughts going through her head. She approaches Trini and Zack's table, which is covered mostly with their history textbooks and notes and their trash shoved on the edge. Zack couldn't resist an Oreo milkshake as one is in front of him as usual. "Hey, fancy running into you guys here."

"Hey, babe," Zack smiles then jerks his thumb at Trini, "Yeah, Trini thought it'd be cool if we studied at the mall today."

It's quick, quick enough that Tommie might have missed it because she doesn't have the senses of a superhuman, but Trini shoots a glare at Zack right before smoothing her face back into her usual neutral and nonchalant expression. Kim does catch it, though, and subtly raises her eyebrows at Trini. To her credit, Trini stares right back at her, silently, her eyes almost _daring_ her to say something.

"Alright, well, good luck with the studying. Tommie and I are gonna grab some food and then do some shopping, so maybe we'll run into you guys again later." Kim leans down and kisses Zack, her hand drifting to brace herself on his shoulder, savoring the taste of his lips against hers, even though she's aware of their… audience. When Kim pulls away, she licks her lips and grabs the milkshake from the table, taking a sip from it, "I'm gonna take this."

Zack doesn't put up a protest and slyly grins at her, "I'm totally fine with that."

"Could you two, maybe, get a room?" Trini cuts in.

"Alright, alright," Kim waves goodbye to Trini and Zack, "We're _going._ "

"See you guys around," Tommie says, but Kim notices that she doesn't quite look at Trini.

Tommie nudges Kim with her elbow as they walk away, "You guys _are_ pretty disgusting. Cute, but disgusting."

Kim rolls her eyes, ignoring the urge to turn around and see if Trini is looking at her, "Zack's actually pretty sweet. I mean, once you get past the five layers of jokes and flirting."

Tommie chuckles, "Sweet? Get it? Because--" She motions at the milkshake in Kim's hand.

"Ugh, shut _up._ "

 

* * *

 

Trini doesn't try to keep her staring subtle as Kim and Tommie walk away, crossing her arms and frowning.

Zack nods at her, instinctively reaching for his milkshake that's no longer, well, his and pulling his hand back in disappointment, "What's that look for?"

It feels dumb to say it out loud to Zack, especially when she doesn't talk to _him_ \-- or anyone, really -- about _girl_ stuff. Gay stuff. Same difference. So, she doesn't. "Nothing," she says.

Zack raises his eyebrows. He knows her not well enough but still too well.

She flicks her pen at Zack, who catches it with quick reflexes and tucks it behind his ear, grinning. Shaking her head at him, Trini goes back to going over her history notes, trying to wipe the awkward glance she'd shared with Tommie while Kim and Zack had been… distracted. It'd just been a momentary lapse of not having something to do while people were being publicly affectionate -- Trini could understand that. That's completely it.

 

* * *

 

"So, uh," Kim tries to casually ask between bites of her burger, "Are you thinking about going to college around here?"

Tommie hides a laugh behind her hand, halfway through chewing. She swallows and clears her throat, "Just going for the heavy stuff, aren't you?"

"I'm… just curious," Kim says, defensively, but she doesn't think it does much for her case.

"Maybe," Tommie says with a shrug, "I've always had plans. They're probably not gonna change just because I live in Angel Grove now."

"Plans such as?"

"Big plans," Tommie says, vaguely, "I wanna get a classics degree, preferably somewhere big, you know, Stanford, Columbia, something like that."

Kim whistles, lowly, "Ambitious. I like it."

"Yeah, it's something I'm serious about. High school -- middle school, even -- always changed whenever I moved. Friends, clubs, whatever, that stuff never really stuck, but…"

"Your dreams never changed," Kim finishes.

Tommie raises her eyebrows, "Damn, that's deep."

"I try," Kim cracks a smile, "It's cool that you have that drive, though."

Tommie takes a sip of her water. "What about you? You've got plans after graduation?"

"Uh," Kim glances down at her food and wrings her hands together in her lap, "I-I don't know, really… I've kinda had a cushy life up until recently, so I'm still… sorting stuff out. Personal stuff, relationship stuff."

"Well, what're you interested in? Like, what do you end up putting most of your time into?"

Kim scoffs, "Netflix."

Tommie laughs, "That's… _an_ answer."

"Yeah, um," Kim bites on her lower lip and rips off the metaphorical bandaid, "I was a cheerleader for awhile, and I kinda thought that was what I'd be taking with me to college. Like, I don't know, I never really thought about anything besides sports."

"Did you stop?" Tommie pauses, "I mean, you don't have to answer that, if you don't want to."

"Nah, it's fine. Some stuff happened -- personal stuff, like I said. I'm not really feeling it anymore, so that's that."

"Is there anything you _are_ feeling?"

Kim lets out a nervous chuckle, running a hand through her hair, "Uh, not… not particularly. There's a lot going on in my life right now, so I'm kinda just trying to live in the moment, you know?"

Tommie nods, "Yeah, I get that." She glances around the food court and gives Kim a soft smile, "Well, no place better to be living in the moment for the next few hours, then, right?"

 

* * *

 

Kimberly and Tommy are already lounging on the couch by the time Adam comes through the front door. With them having taken off a few weeks off of work using up sick days that neither of them normally used, anyway, there's not much for the couple to do around Angel Grove when nothing is going on with the Rangers. Sure, they can explore what they haven't seen of their hometown since high school, but the idea just feels weird to Kimberly. She has a picture of Angel Grove in her mind, and this Angel Grove that has aged about twenty years since she was last here isn't it. And, truthfully, Kimberly doesn't know if she really _wants_ to update her memory of home. Doing so would be acknowledging a lot of things that she's not ready to think about just quite yet.

"Hey," Kimberly greets as Adam sets his backpack down on the counter, "You won't _believe_ who we ran into today."

Adam furrows his brow, skeptically, "Whenever people start off with that, I feel like you're just overhyping the situation."

She pouts at him, unamused.

"Here, I can translate that for you," Tommy says, draping his arm over Kimberly's shoulder, "She thinks you're no fun."

Adam sighs, "Fine. Who won't I _believe_ you guys ran into today?"

"Freddy," Kimberly says.

"You're… gonna have to be more specific. I know at least five Freds."

"That's fair. Uh, Kelman. Remember him?”

“Yeah,” Adam nods, “We’ve hung out a couple of times, like, in the past few years.”

“He mentioned that. Said you were out of town a lot, too, so you weren’t always available to grab lunch with him or whatever.”

Adam shrugs, “I was going around, doing stuff for the dojo. Getting the word out, hosting competitions, things like that.”

“Funny you should mention that,” Kimberly starts in a tone that says it’s actually the contrary, “Because Freddy said you didn’t have the dojo when he started at the radio station about four years ago, and if I remember correctly, you were telling everyone that you did way before that.”

“Oh, I think Freddy must have misheard me or something…” He frowns when Kimberly and Tommy just give him an expectant look. “Uh,” Adam rubs his neck, “I’m not getting out of this, am I?”

Kimberly shakes her head.

“Alright, get off the couch, then.” Adam goes over to the fireplace and runs his fingers along the side of the mantel.

“Uh, why?” Tommy asks.

“He’s gonna show us his secret lair, duh,” Kimberly jokes as she gets up.

There’s a soft _click._ Kimberly can feel the slight tremor as the hearth slides back into the wall. The origami frog she'd given Adam -- which is the _only_ thing he has on his mantel, which should’ve clued her in in the first place -- flutters off of the edge, but she catches it with a quick reaction.

“Actually, yeah,” Adam says.

Peering down the ladder leading down into a metal tunnel of darkness, she whistles, shakes her head, and looks between him and Tommy, "Is this, like, a Black Ranger thing?”

“ _No,_ of course not,” Tommy mutters, frowning petulantly.

“What’s down there?” Kimberly asks, setting the frog back securely on the mantel, “Dead bodies? A, uh, very rare cask of wine you’d like to show us?”

Adam snorts, “I mean, you’re gonna just have to go down there and see. Ladies first.”

“Absolutely not. This is _your_ house and _your_ surprise secret lair.”

Sighing, Adam pulls his phone out of his pocket and turns the flashlight on, holding it between two of his fingers as he disappears down the ladder. Tommy goes next then Kimberly. When they all reach the bottom, Kimberly fumbles for her phone’s flashlight as well, finding nothing but a steel door about ten feet in front of them. She assumes it’s locked because there’s a fingerprint scanner panel next to the door.

“Whoa, you really went all out, didn’t you?” she asks.

“Sometimes, people save up and then splurge on a big thing,” Adam says, flatly, “This was my big thing.” He places his right hand on the scanner, and after a beep of confirmation, they’re plunged into full darkness as the fireplace hearth slides back into place at the top of the tunnel. At the same time, the door in front of them slides open, and Adam leads them into a dark room. He reaches out, apparently knowing exactly where everything is, and pulls at a lever on the wall next to him.

The overhead lights to the room stagger on, and the soft hum of the computer consoles against one wall can be heard as they power up. Kimberly blinks. It’s not _the_ Command Center, but it’s _a_ Command Center. The design clearly took some inspiration from Adam’s past.

Standing in the corner, clearly inactive, is a familiar robot that doesn't light up along with the rest of the room. Kimberly squints at the lightning bolt design on the chestplate -- straight down rather than the curve she's used to. "Alpha…?"

"Alpha 6," Adam says, going over and running his fingers along Alpha's back.

"You never met him," Tommy leans over and explains, "That was a little after Maligore."

"Yeah, I took him back here after San Angeles and put him to work," Adam continues. He flips a switch, and Alpha 6 slowly whirs to life, lights activating on his visor and chestplate.

"Hello, Adam!" Alpha chirps then notices Kimberly and Tommy staring at him; he tilts his discular head, "Tommy, is that you? Your hair is… all gone."

"Uh, yes, it's me," Tommy chuckles, self-consciously rubbing the back of his neck, "Actually, it's more like I just wear it short, now, so it's not _all_ gone…"

"Let it go, man," Adam snorts.

Alpha peers at Kimberly, "And who are you? I don't think we've met before."

"I'm Kimberly," she answers, "Kimberly Hart."

"Oh!" Alpha waves his arms about as excitedly as a robot with minimal vertical movement can. "Adam has mentioned you!"

Kimberly crosses her arms and raises an eyebrow at Adam, "Has he now?"

"You were the first Pink Ranger. I've studied Adam's database--"

Adam clears his throat and crosses his arms, pointedly avoiding Kimberly's eyes.

"That's interesting that he has a database -- of Ranger history, I'm guessing," Tommy muses, "Did you help him put it together?"

Alpha nods.

"Well, that probably took a lot of time, then, 'cause Adam was mostly busy with the dojo and having you help around there, right?"

Alpha glances at Adam in confusion, but Adam interrupts the robot before he can say anything, "Don't answer that." He sighs, "Alpha never helped me out with the dojo. I had him at work down here on this… place."

"This _Command Center,_ " Kimberly says, "Which looks like it could be used by a team of Rangers… or maybe just one. What'd you do when you came back from San Angeles? Because I don't think you were telling the others the truth about where you were going."

Adam scoffs under his breath, "I mean, I'm not the only one in this room who wasn't always honest about my whereabouts."

Tommy stiffens. "That's a low blow," he mutters.

Kimberly says nothing, but her gut twists. All of… this doesn't come as much of a surprise to her -- and she doubts to Tommy, either -- but it makes sense, even if it's in a sense that she can only understand because she's been there before, disappearing for months and years, keeping as minimal contact as possible because the thought of someone else connecting with her had use to fill her with uneasy dread.

It's different for Adam, of course, different circumstances. Maybe she did envy him once for the chances he got that she never did, maybe she still does. "You didn't stick around in Angel Grove, did you? You went to see where you could help people?" she asks.

Adam shrugs, "Of course not. I had my _powers_ back. I couldn't just sit around and…"

"Be normal?" Tommy offers. He frowns, understanding completely, and even though Kimberly never went _back,_ not for as long as Adam or Tommy did, she knows what that feels like. Walking away had been the hardest thing she had ever done, probably the hardest thing _any_ of them had ever done, and doing it again… She doesn't know if she could be able to.

"It's not wrong," Kimberly says, quietly, "That you wanted to do something."

"I know it wasn't wrong."

"But," she continues, "You should've told us. Or someone. Tori, Kira, Xander -- well, maybe not him, but _someone._ "

Adam rolls his eyes, "C'mon, Kim, you know as well as I do that, if I had told someone, they would've just tried to get me to stop."

"Yeah, but what if something had happened to you--" She stops when Adam raises his eyebrows at her and glances at the ground.

"Mhm," Adam hums, "Well, now you know, and, I mean, you guys are crashing here, so this is available to you, too…"

"You said you have a database?" Tommy asks, intrigued.

Adam nods, "Yeah, I made it from what I know -- and took the stuff I didn't know from _your_ archives--"

"Oh, well, thanks for asking."

"And kept it updated as best as I could over the years." Adam motions at Alpha, "Here, pull up the database for them."

"Right away, Adam." Alpha shuffles over to the computer console, pushing a string of buttons that Kimberly doesn't follow. The console projects series of images and files of various Rangers up in the air -- Kimberly glances around and listens, but she can't hear the whir of an overhead projector so it must be coming from the console itself like on those crime shows.

"Where'd you get the money for this? No offense, but you aren't exactly… living the life of luxury," Kimberly says.

"Oh, no, I know," Adam snorts, "I'd be better off teaching. I really need a second job or something. But, Hayley and Cam helped me out with most of this, and I… may have asked Anton for a couple of loans that he gave me out of the goodness of his heart. And, you know, the goodness of the cause."

Tommy purses his lips, "You talked to _Hayley?_ How come she didn't tell me about any of this?"

"I… asked her not to? She respects my privacy as long as she thinks I'm not about to, you know, die."

Alpha scrolls through the files until he gets to five blank ones, outlined in red, yellow, black, pink, and blue, respectively.

Kimberly raises her eyebrows, "You were prepared."

"They're Rangers, too," Adam shrugs, "Family. I figured something would come up, eventually."

Tommy smirks a little at the emptiness of the files, save for images of the Rangers in their armor, which looks like Adam had taken it from the Internet, "Looks like you've had a lot of luck."

"Okay, not everyone can be like you, _Dr._ Oliver. But, maybe, now that you guys are here, we can use this place for, you know, something more than just…"

"Your Batman antics?"

"Shut up."

 

* * *

 

Before they head home on what Kim would probably consider the quietest shopping trip she's ever taken, which is _including_ any time she's ever stood in a store with Trini because at least she and Trini know each other, she and Tommie swing by the food court to find Trini and Zack still sitting there studying.

"How goes it?" she asks, coming up behind Zack and wrapping her arms around his shoulders. Tommie lingers off to the side, messing with her phone. Kim glances at Trini and motions her head in Tommie's direction, but Trini just shrugs in silent answer.

"I hate history," Zack groans, throwing his head back. She leans over and gives him a slightly awkward, upside-down kiss but manages to make it work somehow. Spider-Man was a lot harder to pull off in real life.

"Power through," Trini says, her eyes on her notes, "You'll be fine after tomorrow."

"Yeah until the _next_ test," he mutters, taking the pen from behind his ear and twirling it between his fingers, "I'd rather go back to _not_ going to school. Are you guys done already?"

"Mhm," Tommie hums, sticking her phone back into her pocket. She holds up the shopping bag in her hand, "I just needed a new pair of jeans and some socks."

"Wow," Trini scoffs, "Kim takes, like, two hours to find one thing."

Kim scowls at her.

Tommie shrugs, "I always know what I want, so I usually get in and out pretty quick."

Kim grabs the pen from Zack's fingers and tucks it behind his ear again -- he looks cute that way. "I'm gonna drop Tommie off at her place, so if you guys need a ride…?"

"Yeah, sure," Zack nods. Kim pulls away to let him sit up and get his stuff together. "You want me to come over?" He silently mouths _laundry_ to her. Oh, right. She had forgotten about that.

Kim nods then looks at Trini, "What about you?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever, and this..." Trini puts her notes and textbook back in her backpack faster than Zack does and stands, reaching over to snatch the pen out from behind his ear. She waves it threateningly at him, "Is _mine._ "

 

* * *

 

When she goes into her room, Tommie tosses her backpack and shopping bag on the floor and easily navigates a path past her half-unpacked boxes to her bed, flopping down on her stomach and groaning loudly.

Emily pokes her head in the door, attracted by the noise, "You're home."

"Yep."

"Get anything good at the mall?"

Tommie lazily points at the bag on the floor and watches as Emily rummages through it.

"How did you go to the mall for two hours and come out with one pair of trousers and some socks?"

"That's… all I needed?" Tommie says, rolling over on her back and propping herself up on her elbows, "I didn't really need anything else… Plus, Kim _insisted_ on paying for me as, like, a… new-in-town or first-day present or whatever. I mean, not that that's a thing."

Emily raises her eyebrows, "That's _not_ a thing, but that's… interesting. She's cute."

Tommie rolls her eyes, "She has a boyfriend."

"I think she thinks you're cute," Emily teases with a grin, "Nothing wrong with that. You know who _doesn't_ have a boyfriend, though?"

"You because you're forever alone?" At Emily's scowl, she laughs, "Hey, don't look at me, you make this _too_ easy."

Emily shakes her head then taps her fingers against the doorframe, "Damn, I came over here to ask you something…"

"Uh-huh, and _I'm_ forgetful."

"You told me you left your phone in your luggage when you moved once."

"I regret telling you anything ever."

Snapping her fingers when the thought occurs to her, Emily points at Tommie, "No, no, I got it. Uh, you… have your first invite to a party."

"I've been invited to parties before," Tommie deadpans, "I'm not some _loser._ "

"That's false, but I meant your first invite to a party in Angel Grove."

Tommie raises her eyebrows, "How'd I get invited to a party already? I've literally gone to school once."

Emily smiles a little smugly, "I'm popular."

"They just keep you around because you have a teacher for a dad."

" _And_ because I'm on varsity."

"Nah, I don't think that's it," she gives Emily a skeptical look, "Whose party is it? I mean, not that I'd _know,_ but since you're _so_ popular… give me the four-one-one."

"New football captain and a girl on the softball team, Beck and Shay. It's gonna be at Beck's house tomorrow night, like, a chill get-together-type thing."

Tommie squints at her, "I don't know if you know what 'chill get-together' is supposed to mean, but, and no offense to this guy I completely don't know, football players and 'chill get-togethers' aren't a thing. In my experience."

"Well, he's a chill guy. You don't have to go--"

"But you want me to give it a try?" Tommie finishes.

"You don't have to go, period," Emily repeats, "I just wanted to let you know."

Tommie nods, grateful that there hadn't been a _but,_ "I'll think about it."

"Alright, also, uh--" Emily holds up a finger then disappears down the hallway. Tommie blinks and stares at the space she'd occupied until she comes back with a book in her hand. "Here," she says, handing Tommie the book, "You said you wanted to read it once you moved in, so… book one."

Tommie runs her fingers over the cover of _Skulduggery Pleasant,_ taking in the wear of the spine and the slightly yellowed pages. Well-read, well-loved.

"I left a bookmark in there for you," Emily says, crossing her arms.

"I don't use bookmarks," Tommie replies, shaking her head, amusedly, "I keep losing them."

"I _know,_ but you _won't_ lose this one."

"That sounds like a challenge, honestly."

Emily sighs, "Bend my pages and I'll fight you."

"Promise?"

 

* * *

 

Zack grumbles to himself as he picks up another bundle of Kim's clothes and throws them into Kim's very much already overflowing laundry hamper, "Why do you have so many clothes?"

"I'm… a girl?" comes her confused reply. She throws a shirt at the back of his head that he tosses right into the hamper. "I don't know how you want me to respond to that. It just… looks like a lot because I haven't _done_ any of it yet."

He picks up the hamper by its side handles and glances around the room. Wow, the floor is actually visible. "Is that everything?" Zack asks.

"Mm, should be," Kim answers, giving the room one last glance around, "Yeah, seems to be. Come on."

Following Kim down the stairs and to the laundry room, Zack sets the hamper down and begins helping Kim sort through the first load. They work mostly in silence, save for Zack asking, "This?" and Kim answering, "No, not that," every few minutes. When they've sorted out the first load, Kim adds the detergent then closes the washer lid.

"Thanks for doing this," she says, and it's good that Zack's hearing can pick up on her words over the rumbling of the washing machine because of how quiet her voice gets.

"Yeah," he nods, "Of course, anytime."

"No--" Kim swallows and looks like she wants to say something more then closes the space between them and pulls him into a hug, pressing her face into his chest. Without hesitating, Zack wraps his arms around her, and she sighs and relaxes into his touch. "I mean it," she murmurs, "Really."

Zack presses a kiss to her forehead. "So do I."

 

* * *

 

It's already boring enough that Jason is rereading The Great Gatsby just to make sure he's got everything down for the test Thursday, but while trying to focus on something that he's already familiar with and gone through what feels like a million times, his mind is also on Beck's invitation to the party tomorrow night. It's not like Jason _hasn't_ been to a party -- he just hasn't been to one in a long while, and this'll be his first with a new group of friends and a different social status. Not that that… matters. He tells himself that it doesn't matter, but old habits die hard. Jason grabs his phone from his bedside table and sends off a text to The Ranger Bunch group chat.

_[JS 5:21 PM] hey guys i got invited to a party tomorrow night and was wondering if u guys wanted to come_

_[KH 5:21 PM] whose party?_

_[JS 5:21 PM] beck roman_

_[JS 5:21 PM] u know him right?_

_[JS 5:21 PM] football halfback brown hair glasses_

_[JS 5:21 PM] i think he also said shay's helping him throw it_

_[KH 5:22 PM] yeah i know them._

_[T 5:22 PM] i have no idea who either of those two are_

_[BC 5:22 PM] Jason, it's a school night._

_[JS 5:23 PM] i don't have anything like super important on wednesday really so_

_[JS 5:23 PM] idk just wanted to let you guys know if you wanted to come_

_[JS 5:23 PM] no pressure_

_[ZT 5:25 PM] yes 4 me_

_[T 5:25 PM] wow zack ur first party ever_

_[ZT 5:25 PM] i came out here 2 have a good time :/_

_[BC 5:26 PM] Count me in, too. I might not stay long, depending._

_[KH 5:27 PM] who else is invited?_

_[JS 5:27 PM] i don't know…?????? why_

_[KH 5:27 PM] cheerleaders._

_[JS 5:27 PM] oh_

_[JS 5:27 PM] i can ask_

He pulls up Beck's contact in his phone. His thumb hovers over the information, and he frowns when he sees the orange heart emoji he still hadn't taken off of the end of Beck's name. Well, now would be as good of a time as any.

_[JS 5:28 PM] hey man kim's wondering if the cheer squad is invited to ur party_

He expects Beck to reply right away but when he doesn't get an immediate response, Jason sighs and goes back to reading. Almost an hour later, his phone finally _bings,_ and he lunges for it, nearly falling off of the bed.

_[BR 6:07 PM] uhhhh i didn't invite them and none of the guys have said anything?_

_[BR 6:07 PM] i mean they kinda go where they want you know_

_[JS 6:07 PM] i've been waiting :/_

_[BR 6:08 PM] i was playing ow leave me alone_

_[BR 6:08 PM] i mean studying_

_[BR 6:09 PM] tell kim that she should come!! i support you and your friends_

_[JS 6:09 PM] u don't even know what happened_

_[BR 6:09 PM] are you gonna tell me?_

_[JS 6:10 PM] no_

_[BR 6:10 PM] well there you go_

_[BR 6:10 PM] i've heard… things and besides even if i hadn't, i know kim_

_[BR 6:10 PM] she seems like she's doing better_

_[JS 6:10 PM] okay well i'll get back to u on kim but billy and zack said yes, trini was vague but she didn't say no and she would've if she didn't wanna go so i guess she's a yes too_

_[BR 6:11 PM] ok!! it's byob bc i'm trying to keep it chill_

_[JS 6:11 PM] u kno if u say it's gonna be chill, it'll probs end up not being chill_

_[BR 6:11 PM] don't say That_

With that settled, Jason pulls up a private conversation with Kim.

_[JS 6:12 PM] i can't guarantee that they won't be there bc u know cheerleaders go wherever they want but beck wants u to know that u have his support_

_[KH 6:15 PM] okay thanks._

_[KH 6:15 PM] alright i'll be there._

 

* * *

 

Kim sets her phone down on her bed and glances at Zack, who's laying next to her. "So."

"So," he echoes, "Party, huh?"

"Is this really your first party ever?" she teases.

He rolls his eyes and scoffs, "Uh, _no._ Who do you think I am?"

"A dork."

Zack sits up and looks at her, offended, "I'll have you know that this is _not_ my first party. It's just my first party with Kimberly Hart on my arm, so that's different."

"Uh, excuse me?" She scoots into a sitting position and leans against the headboard, "Me on _your_ arm? I think it's the other way around, buster."

Zack squints at her, "Who even says 'buster' anymore?"

Kimberly. But she doesn't voice that aloud. "My argument stands."

He sighs, "Fine, I _guess._ "

The sound of the washing machine buzzer goes off downstairs, and Kim and Zack are both on their feet to go take care of the first load of clothes. The laundry room itself is warm from the heat. Kim doesn't try to hide her glance when Zack takes off his jacket and sets it on top of the dryer as he's transferring her clothes to it. He catches her gaze, though, and smirks.

"You don't even have to say it," she says, coyly, "I'm already thinking it."

" _That's_ why we're dating," he says, smugly.

"Yeah, whatever, it's because you look good in a tank top."

He sticks his tongue out to her and closes the dryer door when he's done, "Alright, second load…"

The alarm to the front door beeps once. Kim freezes and looks at Zack, "Oh, shit."

"Uh."

"Kim?" Ted's voice rings out from the living room, "Are you home?"

Kim grimaces and sighs, "Your shoes are at the front. I don't think you can get out…"

"I mean… I can try to book it to the stairs and climb out your window."

"The stairs are right next to the living room, though."

"Damn, you're right."

"Guess we just have to rip the bandaid off," she says, pursing her lips, then calls out, "I'm in the laundry room!"

Footsteps approach, and then Ted peeks in through the door, looking slightly taken aback at Zack's presence. Zack hastily grabs his jacket and tugs it on over his tank top, "Uh, hello, Mr. Hart."

"Hi… Kim, who's this?"

"This is, um, Zack, my boyfriend."

"Hello," Zack says, meekly, reaching out to shake her dad's hand.

"He's helping me out with my laundry," Kim comments as if that adds anything to the nonexistent conversation.

Ted nods, "That's very kind of him. Have you had dinner yet, Zack?"

"Um, no, no, sir, I haven't…" He glances quickly at Kim, who can feel the desire to sink into the ground creeping up on her.

"What about you, darling?"

Kim shakes her head, "No…"

"Great, I'll order pizza," Ted flashes them a smile and then he's gone off to the kitchen before either of them can protest.

"Okay," Kim says, slowly, when her dad is gone, "I guess _that_ takes care of when you're meeting my parents."

Zack frowns then runs a hand over his face, "We didn't even _consider_ me teleporting out."

" _Oh._ Oh, yeah. Wow… we're really dumb."

 

* * *

 

The communicator beep startles Kimberly. Her fork clatters on her plate, and she glances at Tommy and Adam, both of whom also look taken off-guard by the sound.

"It's weird to be hearing that again," Adam comments.

"Yeah, you're telling me…" Kimberly presses the button on the side of her communicator, "Go for Kimberly and Tommy."

 _"Rangers,"_ Alpha's voice crackles through, _"I just wanted to inform you that I've finished building your weapons, and they're ready for testing tonight, if you have the time to come by the ship."_

Kimberly looks at Tommy; he shrugs and nods, "Alright, we'll be there shortly. Can't wait."

"Duty calls?" Adam asks as she gets up from her seat at the dining table.

"Guess so."

"Just like old times, huh?"

"Well," she draws out, a little jokingly, "If it was like old times, then you'd be coming with us…"

Adam rolls his eyes, "Whatever, rub it in."

 

* * *

 

Thankfully, by the time Kim and Zack's communicators beep, she's already back in the laundry room, putting the last of her stuff in the dryer, and Zack is throwing the pizza boxes out in the garbage bin in the garage. The loud noise of the dryer is enough to drown out the sound of the communicator and of Kim answering from her dad, who's lounging in the living room.

"Hey, what's up?" she whispers, hoping Alpha can make out her voice despite the background noise.

 _"Hello, Kim,"_ Alpha says, _"I just wanted to inform you that I've finished building your weapons, and they're ready for testing tonight, if you have the time to come by the ship. The other Rangers and Kimberly and Tommy are already on their way here."_

"Alright, cool, Zack and I will try to be there as soon as possible."

The moment she drops her hand back down to her side, Zack peeks through the door and nods at her. "Got the message?"

"Yeah, yeah, I just put the last of my stuff in the dryer, so I'm good to go. Lemme just tell my dad, uh…"

"You're taking me home," Zack offers.

"Right, yeah, makes sense. Alright, let's go."

 

* * *

 

There's something so oddly calming about washing the dishes. Or, at least, to Tommie, it's always been like that. Manual labor, things she can do with her hands, all of that was easy and simple for her.

"Hey," Emily comes up next to her, "How's it going?"

Not feelings, though.

"Fine," Tommie says, noncommittally.

"Just fine?"

"I don't know, what do you want me to say?"

Emily shrugs, "There's nothing I _want_ you to say. Just wanna know how you're doing."

"I don't know," she answers, simply. To ease some of the tension, she flicks some water at Emily, who rolls her eyes and elbows her in the side before walking away.

"My door's open tonight," Emily calls over her shoulder.

"Yeah, thanks," Tommie sighs to herself. She's already unpacked her essentials and taken her meds -- made sure not to forget today -- but it's a nice gesture. At the same time, though, it's also a gesture that she doesn't fully feel comfortable with. She knows she's not being _coddled,_ but vulnerability isn't a good look on her, really. Never has been. It strikes her almost like weakness, a flaw of being human.

She finishes washing up the dishes and leaves them in the dishwasher to dry. The living room and kitchen are empty; Edward and Rachel had already retired to their bedroom when Tommie had offered to do the dishes. Opening the fridge, Tommie grabs a water bottle from one of the shelves, opening it with a satisfying _crack._ Doesn't make sense why there's a good supply of water bottles in the fridge when there's also a water dispenser, but she figures it's a rich people thing. Or something.

After she takes a sip of water, Tommie passes by Emily's room, "Hey, I think I'm gonna go for a walk."

Emily looks up from her laptop and frowns, pushing her glasses up her nose, "A walk? It's, like, eight."

Tommie just shrugs in silent response.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Emily starts, already setting aside her laptop. She's in her pajamas already, but Tommie doesn't doubt that she'd immediately get dressed if the answer was yes.

"No, thanks, I just wanna have some time to myself for a bit," she answers, "Can I take your bike?"

Emily raises her eyebrows, "Do you have a _license?_ "

"Yes…"

"For a motorcycle?"

"No…"

Emily stares at her.

"Come on, I won't wreck it. Promise."

"Well, if you do, _I_ would be the least of your worries," Emily says, sternly pointing a finger at her. She gets up from her bed and grabs her keys from her bedside table, dangling them just out of Tommie's reach as she stands in front of her. "Where are you planning to go?"

"Uh, I don't know, like, around? Maybe out to one of those trails out in the mountains?"

"It's dark outside, and you wanna hike the trails?"

"I… just wanna check them out."

Emily sighs, "And you _didn't_ wanna go running with me this morning."

"Sue me, I'm a night owl."

With an exasperated huff, Emily hands her keys over.

Tommie grins, "And what're you telling Edward and Rachel if they ask?"

There's a pause as she thinks over her answer for a second. "That you're an idiot and you went out for a walk at night."

"Technically, I'm going out for a ride. Which is safer."

"And then a walk."

"You don't have to tell them that."

Emily holds her gaze, "Get back fast enough, and I won't have to."

Tommie scoffs, "We don't have a curfew…"

"Yeah, we do."

"We _do?_ "

Emily nods, "School nights? Yeah, we do. It's ten."

Tommie glances at her phone. 8:22 PM. "Okay, uh, shit, guess that means I should leave, then."

"Mhm. Drive safe."

"Thanks, I'll try not to wreck your bike too badly."

Tommie laughs as she leaves to the sound of Emily groaning and slamming her door shut.

 

* * *

 

Kim and Zack materialize in the main chamber of the ship only to find that the other Rangers and Kimberly and Tommy are, indeed, already there. The others are in their armor, too, and…

"Whoa, holy shit," Kim gapes, impressed, at the weapons in Trini and Billy's hands. A long, blue, double-edged lance and two sharp, yellow daggers, both made out of the same metal as their armor. Trini handles her daggers with ease -- she's slow with flipping them in the air, but Kim can tell that there's just something about how easily she adapts to weapons she's never used before. Or, presumably never used before. Kim wouldn't really put it past Trini to have possibly killed a man before, given her convincingly tough facade.

Billy tries to twirl his lance, too, but fumbles and drops it. The metal loudly clanks against the floor, and his visor draws back to reveal his embarrassed face. "Sorry," he sheepishly apologizes to the room.

Kimberly and Tommy chuckle to themselves off to the side.

Zack looks at Zordon then at Alpha, "Please tell me I get something as _sweet_ as that."

Alpha scrambles off down one of the hallways and then returns, holding in one hand a sleek, pink bow and in the other a mighty, black axe. "I need you two to morph first," he says, "Then I can introduce the weapons back to your suits and the metal will meld itself back into place."

Zack is eagerly already partially morphed by the time Alpha is done talking. Kim rolls her eyes and morphs without making a comment. Her stomach is fluttering, yes, but it's more out of butterflies than excitement. As she holds out her hands for Alpha to give her the bow, she avoids looking at or thinking about Kimberly. It's one thing to know that she's following in her footsteps, but seeing something that's hers when she's already seen images of Kimberly with something so similar and familiar… A slight sense of unease just settles in her stomach.

The bow is lighter in her grip than she expected. Kim grips the handle loosely but tightly enough so that she doesn't straight up drop it. It's foreign to her eyes, yet it feels right, yet… she's never shot _anything_ before unless the Duck Hunt game at Wiggy Woggle Arcade when she was a kid counted. And those guns definitely weren't real. "Where are the arrows?" Kim asks.

"They come from your armor," Alpha explains, "Since the metal in your suits replicates itself, you have, essentially, an endless supply of arrows. You just have to think about it, and the suit will respond to you."

That sounds… Kim shakes her head. She doesn't even want to think about the alien science that probably goes into that. The moment the thought is in her head, though, the metal plates on her left hand shift, stretching and forming a single arrow neatly clasped in her palm. There's no absence of armor protecting her, either, because once the metal molds itself into an arrow, another plate slides into its previous place, covering up her skin again.

"Holy shit," she breathes, "That's…"

" _Awesome!_ " Zack exclaims next to her. His visor retracts, and he grins at everyone. "Man, this is like _Christmas._ But it's only October. Which means Christmas will be _cooler._ Ha, get it? _Cooler?_ "

Trini makes a motion to throw one of her daggers at him, and he yelps, jumping behind Kim.

"I feel like this is a little… inconspicuous," Billy comments; he's resorted to holding his lance like a staff and leaning on it, "I mean, Jason's sword can disappear. Can ours do that, too?"

"Yes, indeed, Master Billy," Alpha responds, nodding, "Like I said before, you just have to think about it."

Okay, well… Kim imagines in her mind's eye her bow and arrow disappearing, and-- She lets out a startled noise as the bow immediately breaks down into individual metal plates, clicking back into place on her right arm. The arrow follows as well, melding back in with her left hand.

"Now, _that's_ cool!" Billy says, gleefully clapping his hands together. His lance is nowhere to be seen.

"I'm glad you're satisfied with the results, Rangers. I've also finished the elevator in the cavern, and I've linked it to your communicators. For now, it stays out of sight down here, but should you ever need it or the teleportation matrix in the ship experiences some difficulties -- it does that, sometimes, this ship is _really_ old -- then you can call the elevator from up on the surface when you're in range."

Kimberly whistles from where she's standing; Kim glances at her, "You're on a roll tonight, Alpha. What d'you guys say we keep things going and get to training?"

Kim's stomach flips, and she scoffs but tries to play it off as exasperation, "Oh, so you can kick our asses?"

Kimberly shrugs, "Only if you think you can't best me. Here, Tommy's got more experience than I do, so I'll make it easy on you guys. I'll go first, and, uh… I don't know, whoever's… tallest can go against me."

Billy groans, "Seriously? That… that doesn't sound like a fantastic idea."

 

* * *

 

Tommie had parked Emily's bike in the parking lot of the Angel Grove Overlook Trail and started up the path. The parking lot was, unsurprisingly, empty since nobody would be out on these trails so late in the day, especially on a Monday night, too, but Tommie's okay with that. She had looked up nearby trails on Google Maps before leaving, and this one looked promising. Something about the wooded area and the trail winding up into the edges of the mountains just calls to her. Pulling her jacket closer around her body, she zips it up, shoves her hands into the pockets, her fingers brushing against the knife Reece had given her, and begins on her way. It's not as hot as it'd been earlier today, but Tommie just likes the feel of her jacket on, anyway. It's her security blanket, as little as she'd never admit to anyone that she even has one.

Close to half an hour later, Tommie lets her feet take her wherever, and she comes close to the edge of the woods. It's too dark to see anything in specific, but she can see where the trees end and where a rocky ground begins. Beyond that, there's a slightly steeper climb of hills, and she _does_ want to explore that but… maybe when it's brighter out. Taking her sketchbook up around here would make for a good idea, too. Possibly while Emily ran in the morning. Not that Tommie could ever really see herself getting up _so_ damn early for anything or anyone.

She's about to turn around and head back down the path when the back of her neck prickles with an invisible chill.

Tommie freezes. _Don't turn around,_ she tells herself, _That's how they get you in those horror movies. It's nothing._

"It's not nothing," a cold, female voice snarls behind her, and she stiffens, a soft but frightened gasp escaping from her throat.

Oh, fuck. Did people linger around these trails at night, looking to catch some unsuspecting late-night jogger?

A gravelly chuckle sounds right after she thinks that, and a deep, male voice answers her unspoken question, "No, not always. You're just lucky."

 _There's two of them. Shit._ She's gotten into fights before but never _life-threatening._ Tommie immediately pulls her hands out of her pockets and holds them up in surrender, shutting her eyes and hoping for the best. "Look, you can take whatever you want. I've got, like, twenty bucks at best. It's yours. Just don't--"

Something _cold_ touches the back of her neck. Metal. Sharp. It doesn't break her skin, but she can feel it teetering on the edge of doing so. "We do not want your possessions," the male voice says. It's then that Tommie realizes something is wrong. The voice just… _sounds_ wrong. Not creepy or scary, but… She exhales, shakily, and her insides fill with ice.

"We want you."

A hand lands on her shoulder, but it's _wrong_ and something -- many things -- sharp presses against the fabric of her jacket and it _almost_ feels like claws but that doesn't make any sense.

And, then, she sees nothing.

 

* * *

 

_Thwack!_

"Ow!"

Billy groans and rolls over on his side, coughing once.

Kimberly holds out her free hand and, after another cough, he scrambles to his feet with her help, easily towering over her. She taps him once on the chest with the staff in her hand, "The bigger you are, the harder you fall."

"Noted," Billy says with a nod, sighing. He picks up his dropped staff from the ground and resumes a slightly awkward fighting stance, "It just… feels weird, you know? I don't have that much fighting experience -- and definitely not any _weapons_ experience."

"You just gotta play to your strengths," she says, shrugging.

Kimberly lunges forward with a jab, holding back a little, just to warm him up again. He easily sidesteps and whacks at her staff, trapping it -- and her arms -- at a downward angle.

Billy's eyes meet hers, and she thinks _Shit_ and _Thank God, he's not used to this_ before dropping her staff as quickly as she can, stumbling backward and narrowly avoiding his delayed elbow that would've surely knocked her down.

"Whew," she nods, smiling, "See? There you go. It just takes some time." Billy tosses her staff back at her; Kimberly catches it, deftly, and twirls it, squaring her shoulders. "You've got reach with that," she says, motioning at the staff in his hands, "If you can keep people from getting close to you, that along with your size, then you're good."

"You said the bigger I am, the harder I fall, though," Billy asks, tilting his head, "How does my size help me?"

Kimberly chuckles, "You only fall harder if you can get knocked down in the first place." She relaxes and slightly leans on her staff, "Look at me. What're my strengths?"

Billy glances her up and down, "You're fast. And agile… like a gymnast." The smile he gives her is so warm that Kimberly has to look away for a second.

"Yeah, but I'm not strong -- I can't knock you down with brute force, so I have to think. Be smart."

His brow furrows, "And I don't want you getting close enough, so…"

She flashes him a grin, "Do what you do best, Billy. Be smarter."

 

* * *

 

Groaning, Tommie opens her heavy eyes to her face against the dirt. She coughs, her body aching, and looks up, gauging her surroundings. It looks like she's still in the woods, but maybe just not where she last remembers being. Did she-- Getting up onto her knees, she frantically pats her pockets, finding her knife, phone, wallet, and Emily's keys all still there. No, she hadn't been robbed. Her brow furrowing, she pulls her wallet out and checks that that twenty is still in there. Yep. All there.

Then, what…

_Stay calm._

Her heart clenches, and she trembles, her breath getting shallow. That voice. The man from earlier. In her head. But… but how?

 _Stay calm,_ his voice repeats. The back of her neck prickles again, and she knows without looking that the two of them are right behind her. On the ground, she's at more of a disadvantage than before. She begins craning her neck to turn around and look at them, to throw all reservations out the window and beg for her life, but the voice stops her, cold and demanding, making dread seep into her bones with every word.

_Don't turn around._

"Why--" Tommie swallows, her throat dry, "W-why not?"

"You are not ready," the man says as if that answers everything, which it doesn't. She has no idea what he means by that, but she looks straight forward, her stomach twisting. Oh, God, there was so much left. Had she left the sink dripping? What time was it? Was Emily going to notice she'd been gone too long? How could she get into so much trouble on her first day of school? She hadn't even started thinking about prom yet.

That same sharp thing presses against the back of her neck, still not breaking skin, and Tommie tenses, forcing herself to not move at all, but the more she tries, the more her shoulders and hands shake. It's not a gun, that much she knows by the shape, but she doesn't want to make a sudden movement and get cut.

"Smart," the man comments. Her brow furrows. How is he doing that? "Obey."

"Wh-what?"

" _Obey,_ " he repeats, and the point digs into her skin.

Emptiness fills her, entering through where her skin makes contact with whatever metal thing he's holding her hostage with. The feeling is foreign to her. Tommie knows what it feels like to be empty -- or, at least, she had thought she did. This is different, though, an absence of _anything,_ crawling through her bones from her head down to her knees dug into the dirt. This emptiness… She can still feel the terror shaking her body, her heart racing and her breathing uneven, but Tommie finds that she doesn't care. They're just physical reactions of her body, and her mind is empty, ready to obey.

"Now, you may turn around," the man says, "But do not stand."

Still on her knees, she turns to face her captors, her eyes widening in shock and fear but her mind staying blank. Even in the spare moonlight and the darkness of the night, she knows immediately that these two aren't human. The woman looks… familiar, strangely enough, her dark green armor and golden scepter glinting very slightly as she tilts her head and examines Tommie through cold, calculating eyes. A green round thing sits at the head of the woman's scepter -- it almost looks like some big stone or coin of some sort. The man -- if he can even be called that -- is a sight to behold. Dread pierces her heart upon looking at his face covered by a faintly glowing red visor and the silver shine of a grill that covers a nothingness where a mouth should be. The silver of the man's… helmet continues down, snaking around his body and ending in clawed fingers that grip a silver staff that leads to a _Z_ at the top. His skin isn't normal but rather gruesome and sickly and-- Nausea rises up in her stomach. He _has_ no skin.

 _Zedd,_ he says in her mind, _Lord Zedd._

Eternal, her own thoughts provide, just like the emptiness settling in her bones.

The woman grins, all teeth, malicious and sly like a snake. _Rita Repulsa,_ Zedd states.

She knows that name. Not well, but she had heard of it a few weeks ago when the Power Rangers…

"Yes," Zedd drawls, contempt in his voice, "When the Power Rangers saved this pathetic city. That will change soon, though." He leans down to speak to her, "Would you like to know what will change it?"

Her answer is no, her body wants her to run, but Tommie just stares at him. Her fingers twitch at her side, the energy to move _inside_ of her body, but the ability to move not present. Obey.

"You will," Zedd says, and he chuckles, dark and deadly, just the sound of it alone making her muscles seize up in fear.

"Wha-" It's almost as if something invisible stops her voice from working. Tommie struggles against it, forcing the words out, as choked and strained as they sound, "W-what are… what are you gonna d-do to me?"

"Turn you into a weapon," Zedd answers, still leaning over to speak down to her.

She puts as much of that pent-up, frozen energy into lunging forward, pulling her knife out of her jacket pocket and flicking it open. The follow through isn't perfect, not when her brain almost forgets how to move and brace herself as she tries to scramble to her feet, but nevertheless, the blade of her pocket knife buries itself into Zedd's left shoulder.

He roars, immediately flinging a hand out and catching her on the cheek. The force of the backhand sends Tommie reeling, landing on the ground. Her face stings, and she brings a hand to her cheek, pulling it away with the slightest of blood at the scratches from his clawed fingers.

Rita glowers at her in disdain. "She's resisting."

Zedd pulls the knife out of his shoulder. The green blade glistens with pitch-black blood. His visor flashes red in anger, and he throws the knife aside, far out of Tommie's reach, then prowls over to her, picking her up by her neck with ease, his claws scraping against her skin.

"You must _break,_ " he commands, and her mind goes blank again.

_Break._

_No. Emily. Laying in bed. Home._

_Break._

_Dinner. Edward and Rachel. Late nights Skyping._

_Break._

_The American Revolution. Complex sentences. When to use a semicolon. Punnett squares. Y equals mx plus b. Stippling. Carthago delenda est. Stretches before cardio._

_Break._

_Trini._

_Yes. Break._

_Kim. Jason. Billy. Zack._

_Break so you can break them._

 

* * *

 

Zack wakes, but he doesn't know why he's awake. He blinks, staring in confusion at the ceiling. He's not the heaviest sleeper, but he's not the lightest one, either, so something had to have woken him up… Beside him, Kim shifts and snuggles closer into his side. No, not that, even though Kim had a tendency to move a bit and cuddle a lot in her sleep. Something else… He swallows. His throat is dry. Zack glances at Kim's bedside table. Normally, she'll have a drink from the day sitting there, but tonight, there isn't a glass of water already set out. He sighs. Really, he could just let it go and try to go back to sleep, but knowing his own mind, Zack knows that he won't be able to restfully sleep until he fixes the problem that woke him up, and in this case, it's apparently thirst.

Trying to be as subtle as he can, Zack gently lifts Kim's arm from his waist, freezing when she makes a noise then resuming when she goes back to breathing evenly. It's so incredibly difficult to get out of bed when her bed makes noise with every movement as all beds unfortunately do, but somehow, Zack manages with only about a dozen glances at Kim to make sure she's still asleep.

Mr. Hart can't know that he's spending the night, so Zack peers out into the hallway, checking that the door to the master bedroom is closed before he quietly pads down the stairs in his bare feet. He walks into the kitchen and grabs a glass from the cabinet, achieving the feat of not making it accidentally _clink_ against the other glasses on the shelf. The sound of the water dispenser whirring as he fills his glass, honestly, sounds like the loudest thing in the entire world at this hour of the night, and Zack holds his breath as the water trickles into the glass, hoping that it wouldn't somehow wake Mr. Hart up.

He brings the glass to his lips, and the moment the cool water touches his mouth, a colder voice creeps into his head.

_Black Ranger._

Zack freezes, his eyes widening, and only his Ranger reflexes stop him from dropping the glass in shock. The echo of Rita's voice is too familiar for him to have mistaken it for anything else. But… he's not dreaming. He warily sets the glass down on the countertop and pinches himself. Nope. Not dreaming.

_I could have confirmed that for you, Black Ranger._

Zack whirls around, looking for the source of Rita's voice. He sees nothing but the silhouettes of the Harts' furniture in the living room.

_Not there. Inside._

"You're dead," he says, quietly, into the air as if the air is going to talk back.

_If that was the case, would we be having this conversation?_

"Maybe I'm just going crazy," he mutters. It wouldn't be too far-fetched.

 _I can assure you,_ Rita's voice is still as clear as day, _You aren't going crazy. As a matter of fact, you have the potential to be the sanest one of all of your friends._

"I'd love to hear your reasoning for that," he says, scowling at nothing.

_I have a proposition for you._

"No."

_You haven't even heard what I'm going to say._

Zack clenches his jaw, "I don't _need_ to. I suggest you stay in space and rot out there because, if not, we're gonna come and kick your ass _again,_ and that'd just be humiliating for you."

Rita laughs inside of his head. Zack grips the countertop but quickly pulls his hand away before he ends up breaking it.

_Here's my proposition, Black Ranger. You care a lot about your friends, don't you? You have a mother, and your friends have families._

"Don't you _dare_ talk about them," he snarls, turning around again but still finding no sign of Rita in the room. It'd be better if she _was_ here. He'd beat her into a pulp.

 _Good luck with that. As I was saying,_ Rita continues without stopping, _My proposition. Your friends' families would be so distraught if they didn't come home, wouldn't they? Because that is what will happen if you refuse me._

"Well, I refuse," Zack says, not missing a beat, "I don't care how you threaten me--"

_I'm giving you an opportunity. One life for five._

Zack's brow furrows. What…

_It's simple. One life in trade for five. Give me yours, and I will spare the other five._

"No," he says, firmly, "You want me dead, you're gonna have to come here and kill me yourself."

Rita laughs again. It's grating on his nerves. _Fine, then, I'll take hers._

"What?" he hisses, but there's only silence, "Don't you dare touch her, I'll kill you if you touch a hair on Kim's head--"

"Zack?"

He turns around at Kim's groggy voice, finding her standing at the foot of the stairs, rubbing her eyes. "Hey," he says, quietly, trying to keep his voice as steady as possible.

"You okay?" she asks, shuffling over to him and putting a hand on his arm, "I thought I heard your voice."

"I was… just getting some water," he murmurs, pulling her into a hug that doesn't feel as warm as he wants it to, "Sleep-talking to myself."

 

* * *

 

Training would have gone on longer, had Tommy not pulled her aside and said his head hurt, so everyone heads home for the night with a promise to pick things back up tomorrow. Kimberly lays in the guest bed, sitting up against the headboard while Tommy rests his head against the pillows. She absently runs a hand through his hair, mussing it up. "Feeling any better?" she asks. He'd immediately taken some Tylenol upon getting back to Adam's house, but something was still off. They hadn't been married as long as, say, Kat and Tanya, but Kimberly still had a connection to Tommy's well-being and when something wasn't quite right.

He makes a noncommittal noise in his throat and shifts into a sitting position. "I don't… I don't know," Tommy says, quietly. A hitch in his voice makes Kim tense, and she rubs his shoulder in concern.

"Do you know what's wrong?"

Tommy starts to shake his head then stops, his brow furrowing, "It's… it's weird. It's like… I-- I feel empty? But, that doesn't make any sense. Like, I don't-- There's no reason for me to be feeling like that, you know, now."

She watches as he traces his fingers along his own left forearm and reaches out, catching his hand in hers before his thoughts wander off too far. "Sometimes it just happens," Kimberly murmurs, "And it just happens for no reason. Do you think you can get to sleep?"

Closing his eyes, Tommy stays quiet for a few minutes. Kimberly doesn't say anything, just waits and keeps holding his hand until he speaks. "I-- It just," he sighs, his voice straining, "Feels so-- so _empty._ I don't know if I can-- if I can focus and sleep."

"Tommy," she says, softly, waiting until he looks at her to continue, "Do you need me?"

He stares at her as if he's looking but seeing something else, thinking about whatever it feels like in his head right then. Kimberly swallows the unease that she can't take that mental burden from him. "I…" Slowly, he nods, "Yeah."

"Are you sure?" Kimberly asks, "You don't have to say yes."

"No, I--" Tommy shakes his head, "I can't focus on anything else. I need-- I need something else. A… a distraction."

"Yes?"

"Yes," he confirms, a little firmer than before.

Letting go of his hand, Kimberly straddles him in one smooth movement, cupping his face in her hands and pressing their foreheads together. "I've got you," she whispers, "Okay? Safeword?"

"Miami," he mumbles, coherently, even though his eyes are closed.

She tilts Tommy's chin up with one hand and kisses him, gently, slowly, gauging his responsiveness. When he makes a soft noise in the back of his throat but doesn't lean forward, Kimberly moves her hand to the back of his neck, rubbing a small circle against his skin with her thumb, "I'm here. Stay with me."

"Okay," Tommy breathes and repeats under his breath, "I'm here. With you."

Dropping her hand from his neck, Kimberly reaches for his left arm, and he follows, letting her hold it up. The lines are long faded, enough so that he can wear short sleeves again, but he still doesn't out of choice. It's only here, when they're alone, that Kimberly can see all of him, of everything that he spent years hiding from the world and his family and friends. The beauty of it is that they don't hide from each other. Not anymore, at least. She presses a gentle kiss to each remnant of a line, her heart slightly more at ease with every quiet sigh Tommy lets out that sounds less and less strained.

"I'm here with you," he repeats to himself and intertwines their free hands together.

She nods and whispers against his skin, "With me."

 

* * *

 

The motions are all that she goes through. Tommie doesn't know where the shovel had come from, but it doesn't matter. Zedd had told her to dig, and she obeys. Somewhere, in her mind, it all feels wrong, the sensation of the metal in her hands, the dirt rubbing itself onto her clothes and underneath her nails, but she doesn't pay much attention to that part of her.

Rita and Zedd watch her dig. "You know," Rita says down to her in the hole as if any of her words are meant to make any sense to Tommie, "He refused my offer. It's unfortunate. This could have been him, instead."

Tommie doesn't know what that means, what _this_ is. A part of her does. Pleads with her to drop the shovel and climb out of the hole and run. But, something had been asked of her, and she needs to obey.

"One life for five," Rita says, and she chuckles, darkly.

It means nothing to her.

"Stop," Zedd orders.

Faintly, her muscles ache. She is beyond pain. Zedd holds his hand out, and she leans up on the tips of her toes to hand the shovel back to him.

"Lay down."

She does.

They both peer into the hole and down at her. Rita grins, all teeth, all evil. "Remember what they did to you," she says, sweetly. Tommie doesn't know who _they_ is, but she files the words away in her mind like the rest of the things said.

The dirt starts to trickle down, steadily. Tommie watches as Rita removes the glowing, green coin out of the top of her scepter and tosses it down to her. It lands perfectly on her chest, and without asking, Tommie knows to hold it in her hands. It's colder in her hands than she expected.

The scratches on her cheek and neck are still there where Zedd's claws had scraped at her skin. From the bottom of the hole, it's hard to see what Rita is doing, but Tommie catches a cutting motion and the glint of Zedd's staff against Rita's hand. A small drop of something lands on Tommie's neck. Her brain tells her it's blood. That doesn't matter.

It burns.

She shifts, uncomfortably, out of habit, but stays laying down and holding the green coin. The drop of blood is wet against her skin, but she feels it burn as it brushes against the scratches on her neck. Some dirt lands in her eyes, and she shuts them, waiting.

_Obey. Break. Dig._

Dirt continues piling down on her, putting pressure on her body, and while her breathing hitches and her brain closes up the walls around her before they actually do, Tommie doesn't acknowledge the fear. She feels no fear, not when there is only the eternity of emptiness spread out before her.

_Obey. Break. Dig._

It hurts to breathe.

_Gold._

She can't see the sky anymore.

_Gold. Gold. Gold._

Dirt and gold and darkness and...

 

* * *

 

Patience was always the hardest to practice for Rita, something that she knew and Zedd knew about her as well. Just the patience that had taken them to this point had been excruciating. Watching Tommie go about her day while they planted suggestions into her head of which they wouldn't see the results of until later than the present moment -- the satisfaction, in Rita's opinion, better be worth the wait.

The grave fills, and she stares at it for close to an hour, a scowl on her face the entire time.

"Maybe it didn't work," she sneers at Zedd.

His visor glows red as he growls at her, but she doesn't apologize.

"It worked," he says.

A moment passes. Then, she feels the tug from her power coin, faint, but there. "I feel it," she says, quietly, almost like an apology but not if he asked.

Something beneath the ground moves, and Tommie's hand claws through, fingers streaked with dirt. Neither Rita nor Zedd shift from their positions to help but, instead, watch as the girl scrambles for something solid to hold onto, struggling against the weight packed on top of her. She hardly makes a single sound through the whole ordeal, and that makes Rita smile to herself.

The girl pulls herself out of her grave, her hair dirty and messy, her face haggard and breathing heavy. In her hand is the green power coin, glowing as bright as it had used to for Rita, once upon a time. Rita leans over and brushes some dirt off of Tommie's jacket, tilting her head to get a good look at her new subject.

Rita grins, anticipation building in her gut, "Do you have anything to say?"

Tommie meets her gaze, her eyes flickering bright green in the darkness.

"How can I serve my empress?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y'all know that b99 "i've only had [x] for a day and a half but if anything happened to them, i'd kill everyone in this room and then myself" meme?
> 
> well, you've got your work cut out for you bc tommie already died so that's one less person you have to kill :D


	14. Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Her body maladjusting to the dark magic inside of her, Tommie gets severely sick and has to leave the school day early, missing Beck's party and giving her a perfect alibi to enact Rita and Zedd's plan. Meanwhile, at the same party, Ty Fleming picks a fight with the Rangers, and Kim threatens to blow their superhero covers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me for the rest of this fic, always: (: (: (:
> 
> disclaimer: kyle higgins, don't sue me, i've had this idea for tommy for A Long While
> 
>  **chapter-specific warnings:** amnesia, car crash, character death (minor), classism, psychological horror, underage drinking.

Tommy flips on the light to the kitchen, running a hand through his hair and sighing. He can hear Kimberly's soft footsteps behind him, but he just wants a drink of water right now. As Tommy grabs a glass from one of the cabinets, Kimberly leans against the counter, playing with the fabric of his t-shirt on her; he can feel her eyes on him, concerned and aching. He holds the glass against the water dispenser.

"How are you doing?" he asks because Kimberly doesn't like the sound of silence too much.

"How are _you_ doing?" she counters, quietly.

His back is to her. The water fills up the glass and then overflows.

"Tommy--" He pulls the glass back, dripping water onto the tile floor, and blinks, registering the mistake but not caring about it. Kimberly rips off a paper towel and bunches it up in her hands, coming up next to him and just gazing at him for a long moment. "Tommy," she repeats, softly, reaching out to brush her fingers against his neck. There'll be a bruise there later. Sometimes, they're gentle. Sometimes, they're not. She had been what he asked her to be, but there was the knowledge that that didn't always change things. He wishes it could be that easy -- like the flip of a switch to turn his mind back on.

Kimberly dries where water had dripped onto the fridge door and the floor then tosses the towel in the trash. Tommy doesn't move. Frowning, she pries the glass from his hand and brings it to his lips, taking care not to tilt it too far. He drinks but asks himself why it matters.

She sets the glass down on the counter. "Where are you?" Kimberly's brow furrows. Her eyes are too deep, too caring. She couldn't possibly understand.

"I don't know," Tommy clears his throat, trying to make his voice work, but it just comes out as a hoarse whisper.

"Come on," Kimberly says, gently rubbing his arm, "Let's go lie down. If you still can't sleep, we can talk or just… sit there."

"Yeah, okay," Tommy nods and starts walking toward the guest bedroom as Kimberly grabs his glass of water to take with her. He hardly makes it five steps when _something_ shudders through him, and his vision goes black.

"Tommy!"

 

* * *

 

The blaring of a car horn jolts Tommy from his… He blinks and rubs at his eyes, confused. A seatbelt across his torso stops him from moving. As he glances around, he quickly realizes that this isn't the Jeep and, much more, he's in the backseat _not_ driving while the front seat and passenger seat are otherwise occupied.

Tommy squints at the man in the passenger seat. He hasn't seen that face or that salt-and-pepper hair in years; it almost feels weird to address his father out loud, "Dad…?"

"You're finally awake," his dad chuckles, "I was wondering when the traffic would wake you up."

"I--" Tommy's brow furrows, and he leans forward to get a good look at who's in the driver's seat. As expected, his mother is driving, but everything is all wrong. This sedan they're in is too new. Tommy runs his fingers along the seats; the last car his parents drove _had_ been a sedan, but there's a sore absence of his dad's scuffed running shoes in the back. Tommy glances around the backseat. There's a plastic bag with some trash and food wrappers and a duffel bag sitting next to him. A road trip, maybe. He reaches over and brushes his fingers against the smooth polyester of a dark green jacket thrown on top of the duffel bag. There's a design printed on the back…

Tommy stares at the grandiose dragon taking up most of the space on the back of the jacket. He'd never owned a jacket like this before. "Hey, um, are we almost there?" he tries to ask casually, pulling the jacket onto his lap and patting the pockets for any kind of, well, he doesn't quite know what he's looking for.

"Almost," his mom replies, "We're about forty minutes out, right?"

"Mhm," his dad confirms, nodding, glancing out the window at the passing buildings, the outskirts of some city that Tommy hasn't caught the name of yet, "Harwood should be really beautiful this time of the year. Maybe we can check out the beaches at the end of the week."

His mom smiles, "That sounds like a wonderful idea, honey."

Tommy starts, "Did you just--"

A passing sign on the highway catches his eye and answers his question for him all the same.

_Harwood County, 32 miles._

"No, that's not…" He trails off, gaping and at a loss for words.

"Not what, Tommy?" his mom asks, offhandedly.

Tommy clutches the green jacket in his hands, gazing at the dragon insignia on the back. "Not… right," he murmurs. The car lurches forward as the red light they've stopped at turns green. He doesn't understand--

Everything goes silent.

Stiffening, Tommy looks up, immediately noticing the absence of sound. He frowns, seeing that his parents and the cars around them have frozen, too, stuck in animation. "What…?" Glancing out the window, he spots what he's meant to see in this moment. An eighteen-wheeler is heading in their direction from the right of the intersection. The traffic lights on that side have already turned red, but Tommy knows. He doesn't know _how_ he knows, but his gut just does. "No, no, no," he mutters, unbuckling his seatbelt and reaching for the door handle. The moment his hand touches the handle, the world resumes, startling him into banging his head on the roof of the car.

The car passes into the middle of the intersection.

He tries to yell, tries to stop it. "Look out!"

The world spirals, and his head smashes against the side window, shattering the glass around him. The Olivers' car flips once and goes skidding to a stop, other cars swerving around it to avoid causing worse of an accident, but Tommy is already outside, coughing and stumbling to his feet. He pats himself down. Physically, he _feels_ fine, but he imagines he'd feel fine, anyway. This… this isn't real.

Tommy glances at the green jacket, still in his hand. "This isn't how it ended," he says, shaking his head in denial. His parents had died quietly -- cancer and a heart attack, not a car crash.

"No, this isn't how it ends," a female voice softly responds, simultaneously right in his ear but far away. Whirling around, Tommy stumbles backward as the world around him melts and gives way to a thick mist. He struggles to see anything in it as day turns to darkness, much like the many times he'd been in Rita's dark dimension before. The hair on the back of his neck stands. Cold seeps into his bones. He's not alone here, wherever _here_ is.

His first thought is Rita, but that doesn't feel right.

Freezing, he senses it before it happens, but he can't move out of the way.

In one swift movement, Tommy's back and stomach ignite in pain, and he gasps, a scream dying in his throat, as he looks down, recognizing the sharp, deadly edges of the Sword of Darkness, what Rita had once used to have power over him, protruding from his gut. He coughs, blood rising and dripping down his clothes.

" _This,_ " the voice says, close enough to be standing right behind him, but he can't crane his neck around to see who it is, "is how it ends." The jacket is tugged out of his hand. Tommy can feel the strength draining from his body through the sword, so he just limply lets go of the jacket. Faintly, he hears the sound of polyester crinkling as the girl puts the jacket on, and it clicks.

"Tommie--" he starts, weakly, but his words drop off into a shout as the sword is abruptly yanked out, leaving a gaping hole. Heaving, Tommy collapses to his knees, trembling and trying to brace himself on the ground. If he had the strength to turn--

A shoe against his back shoves him down, and he yells, the pain of contact further agitating his wound. Struggling, Tommy rolls himself onto his back, grimacing with every movement he makes. He presses his palm to his stomach, trying to stem the flow of blood, but his effort makes no difference and his fingers come away slick and dark. "Tommie," he calls out, strained, but there's no answer. She's gone.

 

* * *

 

He jolts awake, cheek pressed against the soft pillow of the guest bed, sweat plastering his tank top to his skin. Kimberly is already at his side, sitting up in bed, and places a gentle hand on his shoulder. The lights are dimmed, but still, he can see the concern on her face.

"Hey," she says, softly, "You're okay."

Is he?

Tommy lifts his tank top, breathing out a sigh of relief at the absence of a bleeding wound. "Thanks for the shirt," he comments, absently, running the cotton between his fingers.

"Yeah," Kimberly chuckles, lightly, "I mean, you just… collapsed in the middle of the kitchen. I thought you should at least wake up comfortable."

He pushes himself into a sitting position against the headboard. "What-- what time is it?"

Kimberly glances at her phone, "A little after four. You've only been out for a couple of hours."

"Only?" Tommy laughs a little, shrugging his shoulders to ease the tension in them.

"Well," Kimberly nudges him with her elbow, "You _have_ been in a coma before."

"Sure, sure."

Clanking and clattering come from beyond the closed bedroom door. Tommy glances at the door then at Kimberly.

"Adam's making breakfast early since I kinda woke him up when you collapsed and he’s been up ever since," she explains, reaching out to rub his arm, "What were you dreaming about just now? You seemed kinda restless."

"I don’t know," he answers, honestly, "I saw things, but I couldn’t understand what was going on…"

"Things like?" Kimberly presses.

"A… car crash," he sighs, "I was in a car with my parents, but that doesn’t make sense. And, then, I was… somewhere else and I… I think Tommie was there."

"Tommie? Did you get a good look at her?"

He shakes his head, "No, no, I didn’t _see_ her, but I heard her voice. It just… Everything felt off." He touches his stomach again, and Kimberly’s eyes follow the motion but she doesn’t ask.

"Do you think it was a vision?"

"Been awhile since I picked up a vision from The Grid."

"Well, it’d make sense, given what’s been happening lately… What do you think it means?"

Tommy puts his hand over Kimberly’s. "I’m not gonna worry about it right now--"

"You _collapsed._ I think we _should_ worry about it," Kimberly presses.

"Yeah, but I’m… I’m fine now," Tommy shrugs, "I mean, I feel… like myself again."

Kimberly stares at him for a moment, biting her lower lip in worry, "Fine. But only for now."

 

* * *

 

When Emily pulls up to the Angel Grove Overlook Trail parking lot, Jason is already standing at the curb, fidgeting with his red earbuds that aren't connected to anything. She locks her bike and goes up to him, "Hey, you ready to go?"

"Yeah, uh, do you happen to have one of those…" He gestures with his hands, but Emily has no idea what that's supposed to mean. "Those, um, thingies that connect earbuds."

"Oh, a splitter?" She shrugs her backpack off and rummages through the pockets, "Maybe… Why?"

"I forgot to charge my phone last night," he mutters, tugging at the collar of his t-shirt, "So it's at home charging, and I don't have anything to run to."

Emily finds the audio jack splitter at the bottom of her backpack along with her earbuds and readjusts her backpack back on her shoulders. "Running to nature isn't so bad. Sometimes it's good to pay attention to your surroundings," she says, taking the end of Jason's earbuds and plugging them in.

"Okay, but does _anyone_ do that anymore?"

"Erm, no, not really."

"I hope you like good music," Jason teases as he untangles his earbuds.

Emily rolls her eyes. "Hope your knee doesn't slow us down," she says then starts jogging up the trail, laughing and taking his earbuds along.

"Hey!" Jason huffs and runs to catch up to her.

 

* * *

 

Emily knows these trails well enough that she can veer off of the easier, marked paths and still find her way back to the start, and Jason duly follows her without any protest. Three _Fall Out Boy_ and two _Bad Suns_ songs into their run is when they see the hole. It's not in their path, but a pile of displaced dirt on otherwise fairly even ground is hard to miss. The sky is starting to lighten up, so when Emily stops, she holds Jason back from yanking her earbuds out and motions to the hole. "What's that?"

"Uh," Jason glances at her, raising his eyebrows, "We're in the woods. It's…" He blanks on what kinds of animals dig holes but shrugs and takes his earbuds out, following her.

"No, but, look at this," Emily says, stepping closer to the hole. She waves Jason off when he holds out a hand to steady her, "Chill, it's fine. Look, it's digging up like something was coming _out,_ but… this is a _lot_ of dirt…" She takes her phone and turns on the flashlight. It's glaringly bright given how dark outside it still is. Jason glances around and crosses his arms.

Emily shines the flashlight down into the opening in the dirt. "That's too deep for just some nest. I mean, this is right next to a trail. Animals -- I don't know _what,_ but -- don't burrow this close to us. Whatever dug this would've had to be as big as a--"

"Human?" Jason offers, chuckling. He nudges her shoulder, "Boo!"

Emily doesn't flinch but rolls her eyes and turns her flashlight off, getting back to her feet. "You're ridiculous."

"You know, I saw this _Criminal Minds_ episode once where these hikers discovered a woman who was half-buried because they interrupted this serial killer dude from his next kill."

She stares at him, "And you thought that'd be appropriate to mention right now?"

He looks pointedly at the hole then back at her and pretends to hear something, cocking his head to the side, "Shit, did you hear that? The zombies are coming."

Emily smacks him in the arm, "Shut up. Come on, we should get going."

 

* * *

 

The house alarm briefly beeps as Emily walks through the front door and locks it behind her. She pauses as she toes her shoes off at the front and stares at Tommie, who is sitting at the kitchen island, hair still wet from the shower, sipping at a glass of orange juice.

"You’re… awake?" she asks, blinking in surprise. She hadn’t checked in on Tommie this morning when she left for her run, but her sister also hadn’t come over last night which meant Emily hadn’t gotten the chance to wake her up. "I didn't hear you come in last night."

Her sister shrugs. "I can wake up hours before school if I want to."

Emily snorts and goes over to grab a glass of water from the fridge. "Sure," she says as she walks past where Tommie sits, "But it’s still…" She checks her watch. "Like, six in the morning. Sleep well last night?"

Tommie smiles. "Actually, yes, I did! I had a great night’s sleep."

The enthusiasm throws Emily off-guard because the most she’s seen out of Tommie since she moved in is when Tommie is playfully roasting her, but she’s glad that her sister is settling in better now. "That’s awesome. See? I told you it’d just take some time getting used to."

"Yeah, yeah, I guess I owe you an apology, then," Tommie says, "I figured it’d take longer, like, a couple of months and since I’m turning eighteen in a few weeks, there wouldn’t be any point in waiting."

Emily waves off the apology as she sits down across the island from Tommie. "It’s fine. I get it. When Mum and Dad adopted me, I had some trouble with them, too, but we figured out how to all exist in each other’s spaces together and they helped me grow into a better version of myself, so it all worked out in the end."

"Cool." Tommie takes another sip of her orange juice then nods at Emily. "How was your run?"

"Uh," Emily chuckles, "Weird… I guess?"

"How so?"

Emily drinks some water before she starts talking. "Um, okay, so, you’ve met Jason -- well, he and I were running a trail up near the mountains, and halfway up the trail, we find this… hole?"

Tommie stares at her as if to ask why that matters. "You were in the woods. Animals live in the woods. Animals dig holes." Her sister says in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Yeah, sure, but this was, like, the size of… a person."

Tommie raises her eyebrows in interest. "Oh, my God, did you find a dead body?"

"No, no, no, nothing like that," Emily shakes her head, "It was just some empty hole, but it was too big to be something some animal dug, you know? Jason was joking with me and said it’s the start of the zombie apocalypse or whatever."

Making a fake ooh-ing noise, Tommie wiggles her fingers at Emily. "They’re coming to get you, Em."

"That’s not the sound zombies make."

"How do you know that? Have you ever met a zombie?"

"They don’t exist."

"Again, how do you know that?"

Emily rolls her eyes and finishes off her water, sticking the empty glass in the sink. "I’m gonna go take a quick shower. Don’t go anywhere."

"I’m gonna take your bike to school and leave you here," Tommie teases.

 

* * *

 

Not much conversation is going on at their table in the cafeteria this morning, especially since the one who carries _most_ of the random topics -- being Zack -- is off to the side getting quizzed by Trini for their history test later. The only relatively interesting thing to talk about this morning was the weird hole or whatever Jason had said he discovered earlier on his run with Emily, but everyone had glossed over it once Billy launched into a rational explanation over the many animals that could have dug that hole.

Kim looks up from her phone as Emily sits down next to her and Tommie sits down on Jason's other side, "Morning."

Tommie rubs her eyes and groans, "Ughhhh."

"Didn't sleep well?" Billy asks.

"No," she huffs, "I slept fine. I just don't wanna be here."

"Join the club," Emily mutters, crossing her arms on the table and putting her head on them, "Wake me up when graduation gets here."

Kim nudges Emily with her elbow, "Are you going to Beck's party tonight?"

Emily opens one eye then shuts it. "Yeah," she mumbles, "You guys?"

Kim looks at Jason for confirmation. "I think we're all going, yeah. Right?" He takes a bite of his breakfast burrito and nods. "What about you, Tommie?"

"Maybe," Tommie says with a shrug; she coughs into her fist, "I mean, if it's cool enough, I guess…" She chuckles when Emily kicks her under the table.

"Yeah, right, you wish you were cool," Emily says, "Alright, everyone be quiet. I'm taking a nap."

 

* * *

 

When the tardy bell for third period rings, Trini is already in her seat at the back of the room, and she can see Kim in the front. Tommie's seat is in the corner of the back row, just two down from her, but the girl isn't there. Mrs. Whaley starts on a powerpoint and goes to turn the lights off for the projector, and that's when Tommie walks in, posture hunched and backpack slung over one shoulder. Kim straightens in her chair, which Trini, unfortunately, notices. Trini watches as Tommie quietly shuffles to the back and someone in the room snickers -- because someone _always_ has to be that person when a student's late -- and holds out a hand to stop her as she passes by.

"Hey, you good?" Trini asks, peering at Tommie's face against the backglow of the projector screen.

"Yeah," Tommie answers then coughs twice into the sleeve of her jacket, "I'm just tired." She goes and sits down at her seat, and Trini thinks nothing else of it.

 

* * *

 

As usual, Zack is waiting in front of their History classroom as Trini and Kim come from third period. Trini waits, pretending to impatiently tap her foot and check the nonexistent watch on her wrist as Kim kisses Zack goodbye.

"Good luck, babe," Kim says, patting his chest, "You, too, Trini."

"Thanks. He'll need it more than me."

Zack rolls his eyes but sighs, "I… can't even argue with that."

Kim walks away to her next class. Trini holds her fist out to Zack. "Ready to die?"

"Yep." Zack bumps her fist with his own, and they head into the classroom together.

 

* * *

 

Zedd's staff loudly _thumps_ on the tiled floor when every step he and Rita take behind Tommie. The girl squares her shoulders and grumbles but doesn't turn around to glare at him, even though he knows she wants to. She doesn't have to voice her thought of if he has to do that aloud -- he hears it, regardless, and growls in response. Her opinions and snark are insignificant, things that, over time, will be whittled away until all that is left is a perfect weapon.

Tommie veers off into the girls' bathroom, coughing a few times, and Zedd follows first, passing straight through the door even as it swings through his astral form. Zedd watches as Tommie checks all the stalls for other humans then checks her reflection in one of the mirrors. She splashes some water on her face and blinks.

"Feeling a bit weak?" he asks, his chuckle a low, taunting rumble.

Tommie coughs into her shirt and runs a hand over her face. "What's-- what's going on?" she asks.

Rita taps the green power coin in the head of her scepter. It eerily buzzes in the air, and Tommie winces, holding a hand to her ear. "You're dead, Tommie," Rita explains, "Our magic is keeping you alive… at a cost."

"Well, make it stop," she scowls. She catches sight of Zedd's visor glowing red in the mirror and swallows, but he decides to let it pass. If only because she's _already_ weak and he would get no satisfaction from crushing her windpipe when his and Rita's magic is already breaking down her body.

"Only time will change that," Zedd says, "Patience."

"And it will only get worse before it gets better," Rita adds, smiling too eagerly.

Tommie huffs, coughs into her sleeve, and storms out of the restroom.

 

* * *

 

Bhavani's test had been, well, not _too_ bad, but Trini is trying not to think about it. The worst is over now, and apparently, the next worst is how bad the cafeteria hamburgers taste today. Trini sets hers back down on her tray.

She looks up as Emily sits down and rounds their number out to six, but the blonde is busy glancing around.

"Anyone seen Tommie?"

Trini spots her coming into the cafeteria since lunch is already fifteen minutes in and she's the last one arriving, backpack on her shoulder, looking even worse than two periods ago. "Uh, she's coming this way," Trini says.

Emily turns around and gets up but stops when Tommie holds out a hand then coughs into her jacket. "Whoa, are you okay?"

"No, no, I'm not," Tommie mutters, shaking her head, "Look, I think I'm coming down with, I don't know, with something, and I need you to take me home."

"Uh," Emily glances at Trini and the others then back at her sister, "Sure, yeah, but Dad's gonna have to sign us out first--"

"I already talked to him," Tommie says, "He's taking care of that at the front."

"Okay, uh, I'll go get the rest of my stuff." Emily grabs her backpack from the floor and slings it over her shoulder, "Sorry guys--"

A chorus of "No, you're fine" and wishes for Tommie to get better meets her in response as the two of them leave.

The table is quiet once Emily and Tommie are gone. Zack whistles, lowly, "Man, that must suck. Getting sick on the second day of school?"

 

* * *

 

Feeling restless and without much to do besides train while the kids went to school, Kimberly had taken Tommy down to the ship once she had made _sure_ that he was okay to even get out of bed. Alpha hadn't needed much help around the ship, but he had given them some sort of device that was meant to be an energy scanner, very small and inconspicuous, to attach to the grill of Tommy's Jeep.

"There are these energy readings I've kept picking up on these past few days," Alpha had told them, "And I need to collect some more data from around the city--"

"And it'd be better if we drive around instead of you, right?" Kimberly had asked with a laugh.

"Yes, that would be better, indeed."

So, they had filled up on gas and started on their way. Kimberly sits in the passenger seat with the companion energy reader to Alpha's scanner, her eyes tracking their progress on the screen. Angel Grove was a big city, and there's no way they'd get through every sector of the map on the screen in just a day, but the coastal side of town is much smaller and easier to deal with. It's scenic, her and Tommy just driving down the beachfront, the sun shining and… If only everything could actually be okay.

Kimberly sighs as the reader in her hands beeps, signalling that it's finished picking up all it needs to from Reefside Street. The name is certainly odd, but Kimberly doesn't recognize any of the stores and buildings they've seen driving around, so she suspects that most of the coastal additions to this side of the city were made after she and her family moved away. And the name, then, probably came out of a place of remembrance or tribute. There's a certain kind of irony to that -- the first city to be watched by the Power Rangers naming its newer streets after other powered cities.

"Turn left up here," Kimberly says, pointing just to make sure Tommy sees the stop sign turn. He catches her hand in the air with his and brings her knuckles to his lips. Kimberly raises her eyebrows. "Feeling better?"

"Definitely," he says, smiling, and she shakes her head at the wink he flashes her, "Must be all the fresh air."

 

* * *

 

By the time they get home, Tommie has only gotten worse with how she'd tried to hold her coughs in during the ride home and failing miserably. Emily turns off the house alarm when they get inside, keying in her parents' anniversary date as the code, and tosses her stuff on the ground.

"You should probably burn your jacket," Tommie says between coughs, disappearing into her bedroom but not closing the door.

"I think I'll be fine," Emily responds, "I've got a good immune system." She makes sure to lock the front door then moves her stuff into her bedroom and peeks into Tommie's, not seeing her sister but the bathroom door being open and the sounds of Tommie loudly coughing into the sink clues her in. "So, I'm guessing food is out of the question?"

Tommie groans and calls out, "Uh, I can have, like, _one_ bite. Maybe. I don't know. Save it for later?"

Emily steps further into the bedroom. "What do you have? Cough? Sore throat?"

"Uh, cough, um--" She sneezes. Loudly. "Ow."

"Gesundheit."

"Thanks."

"Hold on." Emily heads for the medicine basket in the pantry, rummaging around until she finds a box of DayQuil pills and tears a pair out. She opens the fridge, staring at the water bottles for a second, deciding against that, and grabs a glass from the cabinets and fills it with water from the dispenser.

Returning to Tommie's room, she goes into the bathroom and lowers herself to where Tommie is miserably kneeling next to the toilet, "You haven't thrown up yet, have you?"

"No," Tommie mutters, sniffling, "But I feel like I wanna vomit my whole entire life up."

"Don't know what that'd look like, but please don't," Emily suggests, jokingly, then hands Tommie the glass and pills, "Here. Take these, drink that, and don't die while I go make you some soup."

"Mm," Tommie swallows the pills and takes a big gulp of water, ending in a cough, "What kind of soup?"

"Mum's 'special' chicken noodle that cures 'anything'," Emily says with a chuckle as she stands, making air quotes around _special_ and _anything._

"Yeah, I've heard _that_ before. Does it really?"

"I mean," Emily shrugs and says in a mock impression of her mother, " _If it's made with love,_ then yeah."

Tommie snorts, "Guess I'll just die, then."

"Fine, be ungrateful," Emily calls over her shoulder as she leaves.

 

* * *

 

With probably, possibly, the most anticipated part of her day leaving sick, Kim has had a pretty much uneventful rest of her school day. After Theatre, she gathers with the others out in the student parking lot. Jason is the last to arrive, walking out of the gym entrance with Beck.

Beck waves at them as he passes, "See you guys tonight!"

"Speaking of tonight," Kim starts as Jason walks up, "How's everyone getting there?" She motions at Jason with her phone, "You've got 'curfew'."

"Right, yeah," he scratches his head, "I was just gonna wait 'til a little after seven, lock myself in my bedroom, and teleport there. Like, down the street and walk it or something."

"Same," Trini adds, "My parents can't see anyone coming to pick me up. I'm still grounded for, uh, awhile."

"Teleporting sounds good," Kim nods, "I need to start cutting back on gas, anyway. And, I mean, no offense, but none of you guys tip well."

"We… _don't_ tip you," Trini says, raising her eyebrows.

"I know."

Trini rolls her eyes.

 

* * *

 

"Do you have stuff to do?" Zack asks once he buckles himself in.

Kim glances at him, "You're gonna have to be more specific."

"Like now, before the party. Homework. Studying. Whatever."

"Not… really? Why?"

"Well, I was gonna go home and make some dinner for my mom, do some stuff around the house, and I wanted to know if you… wanted to… you know, meet her? Maybe?"

"Oh, uh," Kim glances down at her clothes then lets out a sigh of relief, throwing her head back against the headrest and chuckling, "Phew, thank God, I'm wearing clean clothes."

Zack laughs, "You're welcome."

"Thanks. Um…" She smiles at him and says, softly, "Yeah, I'd love to meet your mom."

 

* * *

 

_[RJ 3:02 PM] How's Tommie doing? Dad told me he signed you two out because she was feeling sick?_

_[EJ 3:02 PM] doing alright. i made her some of your chicken noodle soup for her._

_[EJ 3:02 PM] "some" = "a lot"_

_[EJ 3:02 PM] i overprepared. whoops._

_[RJ 3:02 PM] More for later, then._

Emily sits up in bed as her screen starts flashing her mum's caller ID, and she taps the talk button, "Hello?"

_"Can Tommie talk on the phone?"_

"Yeah, I think so," Emily says, pinning the phone between her shoulder and ear as she scrambles off of her bed and pads into the hallway, "She hasn't been coughing as much as when we got home…" She comes up behind the sofa where Tommie is laying down and holds her phone out to her, "Here, Mum wants to check in on you."

 

* * *

 

Melody Mobile Home Park is small. As Kim pulls up in front of Zack's trailer, she glances around and thinks about what an apartment complex would look like sitting here. It feels out of place. Wrong.

She gets out of the car and follows Zack up the steps to his front door as he unlocks first the screen door and then the inner door.

"Ladies first," he says with a smile, moving aside to let her in.

Kim rolls her eyes and steps inside, instinctively toeing her shoes off as Zack closes the doors behind them. Inside, there's pieces of him all over the place -- his history textbook and notes sprawled out on the coffee table on top of magazines and junk mail, a black jacket draped over a chair at the dining table that's squeezed into the corner of the kitchen, framed photos hanging on the living room wall of him and his mother and, noticeably, empty nails where other things would've hung.

She turns to tell him that she likes his home -- how unmistakably _Zack_ it feels the moment she walks in -- and finds him staring at her. "What?" Kim asks, blinking. She automatically wipes a hand over her mouth. "Do I have something on my face?"

"I love you," Zack breathes.

"Oh."

She can see him mentally backtrack. "Um, I mean, no, you don't have anything on your face--"

"Zack!" Kim holds out a hand to stop him, and he pauses, waiting. "I love you, too," she says, softly.

"Oh, thank God," he sighs, "It was gonna be really awkward if you hadn't said it back -- not that you _have_ to -- and then I'd taken you to meet my mom…"

Kim laughs and shakes her head. Zack takes her along by the arm down the only hallway. There's a door at the end that's the only one that's closed. Kim pauses when they reach it and nervously straightens her shirt out, fidgeting with the hem.

Zack looks at her, amused, "She _does_ speak English."

"What if she doesn't like me?" Kim whispers.

"Oh, come on, everyone likes you." Well, that's not true. With that, he knocks lightly on the door and opens it, greeting his mom in Mandarin, _ <Hi, Mom. How are you?> _

Kim lingers in the doorway, watching as Zack helps his mom sit up. They chat for a few seconds in only Mandarin until Zack motions at Kim and then both pairs of eyes are on her and she freezes.

"This is my girlfriend, Kim," Zack introduces, and, somehow, Kim forces her feet to move closer to his mom's bed.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you, Mrs. Taylor," she says, meekly shaking her hand.

Zack says something else in Mandarin that has Mrs. Taylor smiling brightly at Kim.

"What?" She glances at Zack, "What'd you say?"

He shrugs, "I said you're here to help me make dinner for tonight… if you wanna stay, of course."

Kim nods, "Yeah, I'd love to stay."

 

* * *

 

Cooking with Zack is enough to make Kim forget about all of her worries for a little while. He gets all the ingredients out to make a simple vegetable soup, enough to last a few days, and gets the rice cooker set up while Kim dices carrots and celery. They work in silence, the only sounds the knife against the cutting board and the rice cooker beeping the tune of _Twinkle Twinkle Little Star_ when it starts and finishes cooking.

Kim doesn't know if this is the point where a crush and liking turns into love, but she keeps stealing glances at Zack humming to himself as he tidies up the living room and thinks _Maybe._

"Have we met before?" she asks while sliding the last of the vegetables into the pot of bubbling chicken broth then turns around to look at Zack. He's staring at her.

"Uh, we're dating?"

"I-- Sometimes, I just say whatever comes to mind," Kim explains.

"Oh, relatable."

"I meant… did we meet before? Like, at school?"

"Uh." Zack flips through a stack of mail, decides it's all junk, then tosses the stack into the trash can under the sink. "I tried out for decathlon freshman year. Didn't make it. And I saw you a couple of times when ISA was hosting Multicultural Week. You know, back when you were… an officer."

"Vice president," Kim corrects.

"Yeah," he smiles at her, "I always thought 'hey, that girl's pretty cute'--"

"Shut up."

"What? I'm _serious._ And then when you made varsity, I was like, 'Oh, now I'm _way_ outta her league!'-- _Ow!_ " He rubs his arm and pouts at her.

"You just _had_ to ruin it," Kim says, rolling her eyes.

 

* * *

 

Sometime after their dad had come home and gone into his home office and shut the door to grade papers, Tommie peeks into Emily's room to find her laying in bed watching Hulu on her laptop.

"What're you still doing here?"

"Erm… what d'you mean?" Emily pulls out her earbuds and raises her eyebrows.

Tommie pulls her phone out of her pocket and glances at it, coughing into her sleeve a little. "It's almost six-thirty and you're not getting ready?"

Right. Beck's party. "I'm not going?" Emily waves a hand at Tommie, "You're sick. I'm not gonna go and just leave you here."

"I'm not _five._ Plus, Edward's home. Go. Have fun."

Emily doesn't move from her bed.

" _Go_ before I wrestle you into some hot clothes."

That gets her moving. She chuckles as she gets out of bed, "Yeah, I'd like to see that while you cough all over me. I probably won't stay long, but don't watch tonight's episode without me, alright?"

Tommie makes a noncommittal noise in her throat, and Emily turns around from looking in her closet. "Promise me," she says in a slightly threatening tone.

"Ugh, fine. You're no fun."

 

* * *

 

**_Power Geeks™_ **

_[T 6:41 PM] uhhhhh j what's the address_

_[JS 6:41 PM] oh_

_[JS 6:41 PM] i knew there was something i forgot_

_[JS 6:42 PM] 2901 Lakewood Court_

_[JS 6:42 PM] i'm gonna wait for 7:05 bc ankle monitor_

_[JS 6:42 PM] u guys can wait for me…. or not, whatever u want_

 

* * *

 

Jason can already hear the faint thrum of music with his superhuman hearing when he teleports into the bushes of the house across the street from Beck's. When he rounds the corner, he pauses at the sight of Billy, Trini, Kim, and Zack all standing at the curb. "Oh, hey," he says, dumbly, "You all waited."

"Well, yeah," Trini says, shrugging and scuffing her shoe on the ground, "We'd look kinda dumb going in individually. Don't get used to it."

Alright, he'll take that.

"Um, just so you guys know," Jason says, rubbing his neck as they cross the street, passing by some cars that are already parked against the curb of Beck's house, "The guy who's throwing this party -- I, uh, we used to date."

"Oh, my God." He hears Kim mutter under her breath. "That makes _so_ much sense."

"Is this a trap?" Zack asks, "Did you invite us so that you wouldn't have to awkwardly stand in a room with your ex?

"No!" Jason shoots him a look, "No, nothing like that. He _actually_ invited you guys. It's not weird, we're not awkward exes, okay? I just wanted to put everything out on the table."

"You wouldn't be saying that unless you thought it was relevant, though," Billy points out, and, God, why does Billy always have to be right about everything?

"You know what? Just… forget I said anything." Jason sighs as they come up to the front door and lifts his hand to ring the doorbell. "Oh, I can't do this--" He makes a noise that nobody later can claim was a yelp then takes three steps back behind Billy.

"Oh, mighty fearless leader," Trini says, flatly, and rolls her eyes, "He'll lead us into death against evil space aliens, but high school? Gets him every time."

"Listen--"

She rings the doorbell and tugs him forward by the arm so that he's standing in front. Oh boy.

A few moments pass where Jason fidgets with the collar of his t-shirt then the door opens and Beck is standing there in a t-shirt with a cartoon waffle on it.

"'Waffles are just pancakes with abs'," Billy reads out loud.

"Yeah!" Beck says, laughing, "Come on in. There's, uh, drinks and snacks in the kitchen. Damo and Marty brought their Xboxes and there's… a Halo LAN party going on in the living room? I don't know, go wild. But, like, not too wild. Don't destroy my house. Please."

"No promises," Zack jokes as he brushes by Beck.

"Don't… say that."

 

* * *

 

Beck has a back porch that Trini finds herself lounging on with an unopened can of Sprite. Billy's out here, too, since Kim and Zack disappeared somewhere and she'd seen Jason nervously eyeing the football team crowded around the Xboxes in the living room. She taps the top of the can then gently pulls on the tab with a satisfying _hiss._

Parties are boring, but she's here, anyway, because whatever. Trini doesn't have another test this week, and even if she's here to just relax in the backyard and have a couple of hours to chill, then that's better than chilling herself to boredom and death in her bedroom.

She glances over at Billy. She has no idea where he got it -- probably better not to ask -- but Billy has a little _thing_ in his hands that he's tinkering with and showing off to some theatre kids who she doesn't know. Looks to be some robot of some sorts. It _whirs_ when he winds up a little thing on its back, and Trini doesn't doubt that he probably built it out of scratch from, like, a pen or something.

 

* * *

 

The doorbell rings just as Kim passes by the front of the house, and she jumps, looking around for someone else to take responsibility, but she's the closest one. Sighing, Kim goes for the door and opens it, losing all semblance of coherent thought at Emily on the other side. "Uh, hi."

Emily looks at her a little oddly, "Oh, hey. Right house."

"Yeah, right house," Kim says, chuckling, "Beck's around here somewhere. Uh… Tommie doing okay?" Smooth.

"Mhm, she's feeling a little better." Emily walks into the house, straightening out her leather jacket, "I'm not really gonna stay for long. If I don't get home fast enough, she's gonna watch the new episode of _Brooklyn Nine-Nine_ without me."

Since Kim and the others had arrived, about a good dozen, close to two dozen, more kids from school had dropped by, too, so Emily disappears off into another room, leaving Kim to wander around. Zack reappears at her side right as she passes into the kitchen.

"Water?" he offers her a half-empty bottle.

"Yours?"

"Mhm."

Kim takes a sip and hands the bottle back to Zack. "I've got someone to talk to, so I'm gonna…" She just trails off as she spots Beck hanging with Shay near the snacks. Tapping Shay on the arm as she passes, Kim murmurs, "I gotta talk to you."

The girl glances after her, confused for a moment, then slips out from underneath her boyfriend's arm and follows Kim into the nearest empty room which turns out to be the Romans' home gym. Kim flips on the lights and settles against the door as Shay leans against a treadmill, silent, clearly expecting her to speak first.

Oh, now she definitely understands Jason's hesitance to just ring a freaking _doorbell._

"Uh, how've you… been?"

"Fine…"

"Yeah? Congrats, you know, you and Beck--"

"Kim, seriously?" Shay crosses her arms.

"I-- Alright, I'm sorry," Kim sputters, nervously, "About how I treated you. I know it's been, like, a long time, but it wasn't fair. You had every right to break up with me, and you don't have to forgive me, but I just wanted to get this off of my chest. A lot of things have been changing in my life recently, so I’ve had a lot of things to think over and think about fixing. And this is one of them."

Shay raises her eyebrows, "How long have you had it… on your chest?"

Kim fumbles, "Uh… five… minutes. I saw you and was, like, 'Oh, I should probably apologize.'"

Shay blinks.

"I mean, but I _mean_ it."

"I forgive you," Shay sighs.

Kim furrows her brow. "Wait, what?"

"I forgive you," Shay repeats, walking over to the door. Kim moves aside to let her out. "You've changed."

"Okay, um, you're not _wrong,_ " Kim says, "But, what… what makes you say that? Like, how do you… how are you sure?"

Shay looks at her a little incredulously then shakes her head. "The Kim I broke up with wouldn't have apologized," she says with a casual shrug.

 

* * *

 

The moment Rita and Zedd project into her bedroom, Tommie sits up in bed, attentively waiting for one of them to speak and muffling a few coughs into her hand. The girl looks no better than she had hours ago, but that won't last much longer. Rita won't admit it to him -- he can hear her thoughts, anyway -- but Zedd has done excellently with this girl. It makes Rita a little green with envy that she hasn't been cursed with the same kind of power to twist someone else's mind. A shame, but at least, she has this.

"We have a mission for you," Rita drawls, savoring every word. Everything is going well, and it's about to be _perfect._

Tommie silently nods then gets up to lock her bedroom door.

Rita's gut turns as Zedd brings their physical bodies down to earth and breaks the astral projection. Still takes some getting used to. She holds a clawed hand out for Tommie to take, "Come. We're going on a little trip."

 

* * *

 

Just down the street, far away from Beck Roman's house party, Vivian Bhavani does her laundry. She already has one load out, waiting in a hamper in her living room for her to multitask and skim through the tests from today. Currently, she’s moving the second load to the dryer, piece by piece. The house is quiet. She has the TV playing a rerun of _Law & Order _ from the other room. She lives alone. Nobody else is there.

Until somebody is.

Vivian stands up from picking a sock up off of the floor and comes face-to-face with a girl in a dark green jacket she doesn’t recognize. Her heart does a quick pause, and she jumps, startled. She almost screams, too, but clamps a hand over her mouth just in time, not that it would’ve mattered whether she did or not.

Anyone else reacting to someone in their house who _doesn’t_ live in their house might have freaked out. But, the girl is here for a reason, and Vivian knows exactly who she is. They’ve never met, but she knows in her gut that it’s too late.

"Tommie?" she asks, uncertainly, as if she would get an actual response.

Tommie lunges at her, and Vivian scrambles back, fumbling for the first thing she can get her hands on. She swings the bottle of laundry detergent at the girl, having dropped all pretenses the moment she was attacked, and connects a solid hit to the girl’s head. Tommie stumbles and coughs, leaning on the opposite wall of the cramped laundry room for support. Vivian wastes no time and grabs the collar of Tommie’s jacket and yanks her head down, slamming the dryer door against it once, twice--

A hand shoots out and stops her the third time. Then, a sickening _creak_ as the dryer door is pulled off of its hinges. Shit. Vivian backs out of the room and goes sprawling as Tommie smacks her with the door. Her ears ring. Her jaw aches. If Tommie’s strong enough to do that, then they’re too late. She has to tell the others.

But, first, she has to survive.

Vivan crawls away, further into the living room, and tries to put some distance between Tommie and herself. She fumbles with the watch on her wrist that she’s never, _ever_ taken off and unclasps it, hurling it not at Tommie but underneath the couch. It beeps quietly the moment it leaves her wrist, but Tommie pays it no attention as she stalks out of the laundry room.

There’s a flatscreen TV above her mantel. Obviously, too heavy and far up to use as a weapon. But, underneath her mantel is a series of decorative antiques, historical props that she’s gathered over the years. Vivian grabs a life-sized crusader helmet and lunges to her feet, swinging for Tommie’s head once again. Fool her once, shame on her. Fool her twice…

Tommie’s hand comes up and stops the attack, and she rips the helmet out of Vivian’s hand, tossing it across the carpeted floor.

Well, she tried.

Tommie raises a hand, her eyes briefly flashing green, and Vivian’s world spins. She blinks and feels her feet leave the ground. She blinks again, and two figures are standing over Tommie’s shoulders -- Rita and…

"Oh, no," she whispers. Not that it matters. It’s too late.

 

* * *

 

Zedd watches as the woman uselessly struggles. He can feel her life force in the air, slowly draining from her as Tommie feeds on it, using the magic _he_ gave her.

"Tell me who the others are," he orders.

The woman's eyes droop as she weakens, but at that, she manages to shake her head.

He turns to Tommie. "Take it from her."

Tommie's eyes flash green again, and she visibly strains, her hand trembling as she holds the woman in place, then her eyes return to normal and she shakes her head. "I can't, my lord, I'm not strong enough," she says, pathetically. A weak mortal.

He senses Rita's anxiety and chooses to ignore it. Let her worry about if her plan really _is_ going to work. Fear is a good tool to control others with.

"Must I do everything myself around here?" he mutters, tapping the edge of his staff against the woman's chest. Just one point of physical contact is enough to give him access, and he presses into the mental maze. It's different from when he had entered Tommie's mind -- weak, vulnerable, scared. This woman -- _Vivian_ \-- is ready for him, trying desperately to think of anything and everything to distract him. History facts, basic arithmetic, trivial memories. Zedd brushes past them all with ease and, underneath all of the things she had buried it under thinking that he could never make it this far, he finds what he's looking for.

 

* * *

 

When Kim follows Shay out of the room, she pauses at a loud cheer from the front of the house. Someone loud and popular just arrived--

"Oh, no," Shay mutters under her breath, and Kim immediately knows who. She follows the other girl through the mass of tipsy teen bodies and comes out on the other side, face-to-face with her ex-boyfriend.

"Kim!" Ty Fleming greets her with a wide grin, and she kinda wants to punch his tooth out again already. At his side, avoiding her gaze, is Amanda, and behind Amanda, a couple of the other girls on varsity cheer.

Kim frowns. This is very, very bad.

 

* * *

 

Things have been quiet at the Angel Grove Sheriff's Station, not that Garrett is complaining. Quiet is good. Quiet means no trouble. The last time things weren't quiet, a bunch of people ended up dead, they lost an officer, _and_ aliens attacked the city. He's ready for anything, but it'd be nice if _anything_ could wait for, say, another week or two. If another Putty attack messes up where he gets his coffee again…

Garrett's watch beeps, and he looks up from the parking report he'd been filling out. For a moment, he just stares at the watch, not comprehending what it means, but then it clicks in his head, and he's on his feet, grabbing his jacket from the back of his chair.

"Hey, where are you going, Larsen?" Hannah, the receptionist, calls after him.

"Break! I'll be right back!"

Rushing, he hops into his car and opens his glove compartment, feeling around for the second phone he keeps in there. The screen lights up as he unlocks it and pulls up the tracker app. "Where's the signal, where's the signal," he mutters, impatiently, tapping his foot on the floor of his car.

The screen loads.

Lakewood.

"Viv," he breathes, "Shit."

 

* * *

 

Trini knows something's wrong the moment she hears the noise level inside of the house increase. People yelling only means trouble, and this sounds like the life of the party just walked in, which can only mean… Trini's suspicions are confirmed when she reaches out and faintly feels a spike of irritation from Kim. She stands, draining the last of her Sprite and crushing it in her fist. "Come on, Billy," she says, catching the boy's attention before walking back into the house.

Billy glances at Trini then at the kids he was showing his little makeshift robot off to. "Uh, here you go, Myn," he says, handing the robot off to one of the theatre kids, "You can keep this." With that, he scrambles off after Trini.

 

* * *

 

"It's nice to see you again, Ty," Kim drawls in a fakely sweet tone. She bristles as someone comes up behind her, but it's just Zack, gently touching her back. There's a crowd forming around them. Kim can feel Billy and Trini come up on her other side without looking, which means Jason is somewhere around here, too.

She glances next to Zack and sees Beck and Shay, who probably don't want Ty and the cheer squad here, but there's nothing they can do about it.

"Yeah, nice to see you, too," Ty says, still smiling, "Been awhile, but we're just all here to have some fun, right? No hard feelings?"

Another hand is on her shoulder, and Kim turns to see Emily. "We should go," Emily murmurs, shooting Billy and Trini a worried glance. Her watch beeps quietly, and she presses a button on it that silences it. "I've gotta get home to Tommie--"

Kim ignores her. "Yeah, no hard feelings," she says, flatly, "Water under the bridge now." Amanda visibly flinches, and Kim meets her gaze.

"Ty, let's go," Amanda says, quietly, trying to tug her boyfriend away to another part of the party.

Kim knows him, though, just like Amanda knows him, and once she's got herself put on his shit list, there's no getting off of it. She tenses, waiting for the worst.

Ty looks at Zack. "So, you're the new boyfriend," he says and holds his hand out for Zack to shake, "Nice to meet you, man." To his credit, Zack doesn't shake Ty's hand. Kim can't help the little swell of smug pride she feels.

"Of course," Ty continues, "I have to say, I don't know how long that's gonna last…"

"Ty--" Amanda tries to interrupt.

Kim narrows her eyes. "What's _that_ supposed to mean?" Zack puts a hand on her arm, holding her back, but she doesn't move.

Shrugging, Ty puts his hands in his pockets. "You know what I mean, Kim," he says, casually, "You're just… used to a certain lifestyle. Certain amount of money, things like--"

She punches him in the face before Zack can yank her back.

 

* * *

 

One knock. Two knocks.

"Viv!" Garrett sighs and glances around. It's past sunset. The neighborhood is pretty much quiet with a few lights on in some of the others houses. "Viv, open up!" Still nothing. Pressing his weight against the door, Garrett slams his shoulder against it over and over, feeling it begin to give way after the second push. "Alright…" He steps back and hypes himself up, bouncing on the soles of his feet. He can do this, he can do this.

The door flies open after he throws himself against it for the last time. Garrett stops and gasps at the sight of Vivian laying on the floor, motionless. The living room lights are on as well as the TV, creating a static white noise in the back of Garrett's mind as he steps further into the house, closing the door behind him. A laundry hamper sits next to the couch, still full of clothes. Somewhere, he can faintly hear Vivian's watch incessantly beeping.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," he mutters, going to check on Vivian, even though he obviously wouldn't be here if she was okay, then stops. His eyes catch on her living room wall and on the message scrawled on it in what couldn't be anything else but dried blood.

"Oh, God--" Garrett runs past Vivian's body to the bathroom and loses his early dinner in the toilet. It takes him a few minutes to compose himself, and once he does, he stumbles back out into the living room to get a better look at the message.

_Consider this a sign of things to come._

Feeling sick but forcing the nausea down, Garrett swallows and goes over to Vivian's body, collapsing to his knees, feeling no pulse against her cold skin as expected. He fumbles with his second phone and calls the only number _to_ call in a situation like this. While the line rings, he glances around, looking for Vivian's watch. The beeping grows louder as he gets closer to the couch, so he reaches underneath and pulls the watch out along with some lint and dust that he wipes on his pants.

Someone picks up on the other end, and a distorted seven-note tune is whistled at him. Garrett can't even bother with that right now. "Director, this is an emergency," he sighs, worriedly, "We have a situation."

 _"London,"_ she greets, _"What is it?"_

Garrett glances at Vivian's body. There's no blood, no sign of cause of death, but there doesn't have to be. Not when it comes to their line of work. "Oxford's dead," he says, getting to his feet, "And there was a message." He pulls his phone away from his ear and takes a picture of the message on the wall, sending it to the Director's phone. "We're too late. They're here."

Heart racing in anxiety, he waits as there's just silence. Then, _"I'll send people to clean it up. I'll let you know when to make it official. Our people get there before the Sheriff's Department, understood?"_ Cold. Efficient.

_Get it together, Garrett._

"Yes, ma'am." The link clicks, and Garrett lets out a loud sigh. "How could we have missed it, Viv?" he asks with anticipatedly no response. Walking over to the fridge, Garrett taps the fridge display screen. Filter's on half, but it'd be replaced soon, anyway. He opens the fridge and grabs a water bottle, taking a sip from it.

His radio crackles on his shoulder. _"415 physical -- zzzh -- 2901 Lakewood Court -- nearby units respond."_

Shit, that's just down the street. Garrett clicks his radio on, "724, nearby and responding." He hears 605 and 429 respond, too, but he's closer. He'll get there first.

Leaving everything else in Vivian's house untouched, Garrett gets in his car and does a U-turn to check up on 2901 Lakewood Court.

 

* * *

 

Vaguely, she feels hands on her arms and her shirt trying to pull her off of Ty, but Kim doesn't register who they are and she doesn't budge. Grabbing the collar of Ty's jacket, she drags him outside to the front yard, throwing the door open. She throws him onto the grass, fists clenched, chest heaving. Ty's nose is bleeding. He wipes at it with his hand.

"Still the meanest person I've ever met," he mutters as he gets up, and she lunges at him again. Kim doesn't even touch him, but Ty falls and scrambles away from her, yelling loudly about how crazy she is. There's a flash of pink metal out of the corner of her eye that Kim doesn't quite process, and then Trini is there, tugging her jacket off and firmly wrapping Kim up in it, hugging Kim in a way that doesn't let her move.

"Let me _go,_ " she hisses.

Trini glares at her and says in just as low of a voice, "You almost _morphed._ Cool the _fuck_ down."

Kim blinks, "What? No, I didn't--" She glances down at her fist, covered by Trini's yellow jacket from the crowd that followed her out to watch the fight. A thin, pink sheen flickers over her fingers and wrist. The moment she becomes aware of it, the armor dematerializes. Kim sighs and squirms under Trini's hard gaze, feeling a sinking disappointment settle in her stomach.

Someone shouts "Cops!" right before a marked car pulls up to the curb. A door opens and slams shut.

"Oh, shit," Kim mutters, flinching when a flashlight gets shined in her face.

 

* * *

 

Many of the kids at Beck Roman's house had gone scattering in different directions after the first Sheriff's car pulled up, but in the end, eleven students from Angel Grove High were thrown into holding at 8:03 PM on September 27th, 2016.

Garrett couldn't even focus on paperwork while knowing that, just a drive away, Apex agents were cleaning up Vivian's house and removing every trace of her double life before her death was to be revealed to the Sheriff's Department and local news stations. Still, he has to do his job and act like everything's normal. No distractions, no exceptions.

He passes by the cell where Ty Fleming, Amanda Clark, and Harper Gates are sitting to where the _other_ eight kids are. Thankfully, there's a wall separating them otherwise he's sure that Kimberly Hart might have gone for Ty again. The first three already got their phone calls, so he's sure that there's about to be a few pairs of rich, snobby parents nagging the hell out of him in about half an hour. Joy.

All eight kids look up when Garrett stops in front of their cell. At the very least, Jason and Kim -- the former, especially -- would know how this goes. It doesn't seem relevant to mention that Jason _should've_ gotten a check-up about an hour ago and shouldn't have even _been_ at that party, but Garrett files that information away for later.

He holds up a finger. "Everyone gets _one_ phone call. Who's up first?"

 

* * *

 

Jason catches Corporal Larsen glancing at him too long for his comfort and shifts his sitting position so that he has the leg with the ankle monitor on it tucked underneath him. It awkwardly digs into his thigh, but it's necessary. For some reason, nobody has called him out on being in huge fucking trouble for being here yet. Well, for now. He's counting his blessings.

Emily glances at all of them, hesitantly. Jason knows _he_ can't make his phone call and neither can Trini since they're both supposed to be at home. Kim and Zack don't really have anyone to call, and Beck's parents are out of town, leaving Billy, Emily, and Shay. "I got this, you guys," Emily says, getting to her feet and following Corporal Larsen out of the cell, "Trust me."

_What the hell is that supposed to mean?_

"I'm sorry I got us into this," Kim speaks up. Jason looks at her. She and Zack have been having whatever silent conversation they've been having while holding hands.

"It's fine," Beck says, quietly, "I shouldn't have thrown the party in the first place, but nobody got hurt. That's what matters."

Trini snorts, which is the only other sound she's made all night. She's been uncharacteristically quiet, even by _Trini_ standards.

Kim raises her eyebrows, "Nobody got hurt?"

Beck runs a hand through his hair. "Well," he says, slowly, "Nobody I care about."

That gets a few scattered chuckles throughout the cell, but all of them fall back into silence soon after. It's too weird, too uncomfortable to talk about anything. Jason's been in a cell before, of course, for _days,_ but this is new for pretty much everyone else. It twists at his gut, and he tugs nervously at the collar of his t-shirt.

After a few minutes, Corporal Larsen comes back with Emily and unlocks the door for her to get back in the cell. He walks away for a moment to take a call on his phone. Emily mutters to the others, nervously wiping her hands on her jeans, "Alright, my parents are gonna come bail us out. Don't worry."

"Don't _worry?_ " Shay starts, her voice cracking, "I gotta call my parents--" Jason can see that she's trembling, even if she's trying to hide it. Beck rubs her back and whispers something in her ear.

Sure enough, after an agonizing amount of time that is apparently only about forty-five minutes if Emily's watch is anything to go off of, Corporal Larsen comes up to their cell door again with Emily's parents in tow. Mrs. Jordan looks like she just came from work while, at least, Mr. Jordan is in a more casual shirt than the one Jason had seen him in passing this morning at school.

"Uh, hey, Coach," Beck mumbles, "Mrs. Jordan."

Jason clears his throat and tries to flatten himself against the wall.

"They're here to bail you out," Corporal Larsen says as he unlocks the door and leaves it open, "All of you."

Billy furrows his brow and glances at the others, receiving only the same confused looks in response.

"I'm sorry, sir, _all_ of us?" Jason asks, raising his eyebrows.

Corporal Larsen nods, "Mhm, they already signed you out. Now get going."

"Told you," Emily murmurs as she brushes past him.

Still _very_ confused, Jason follows everyone out of the station, keeping his head low in case someone randomly remembers that he's still got an ankle monitor underneath his jean leg, and ducks his head even further when he sees that Ty's parents and Amanda's parents are entering the station as they're leaving. In front of him, Kim coughs into her hand and hides behind Zack's frame.

Once he's hit by the fresh outside air, Jason breathes out a loud sigh of relief. "Not to sound ungrateful, but what-- what just happened?"

"Emily called and asked us to bail you out," Mrs. Jordan says, clicking her car remote. An SUV parked in the front row beeps. "I can seat nine, but Eddie's gonna take two since we're going in different directions."

"Bail us out? But… don't you need our parents to do that?" Billy asks. Mrs. Jordan glances at him but doesn’t say anything.

It clicks for Jason, and he quietly shushes Billy.

 

* * *

 

Mr. Jordan goes to drop off Beck and Shay back at the Romans' house and get Emily's motorcycle while Mrs. Jordan drives the five of them and Emily back to her house.

"Are you gonna call our parents?" Kim asks, a little apprehensively as Mrs. Jordan unlocks the front door to let them in.

"You can call them yourselves," Rachel says, offhandedly, as she takes her shoes off, "When they come here to pick you kids up."

She isn't looking forward to that.

"Speaking of parents, Jason, don’t you have a curfew?" Rachel asks. Her back is to him, so he glances, frantically, at Billy then at Kim.

"Uh, yeah, my ankle monitor’s been going on the fritz lately… I think it’s broken," he lies. Badly.

"Weird how machines do that," Billy adds. Oh, boy.

If Rachel can tell or even cares that Jason’s ankle monitor should’ve called the Sheriff’s Department on his ass like _three hours ago,_ she doesn’t show it.

Kim clears her throat and meekly waves upon seeing Tommie lounging on the couch.

"Uh, hey?" Tommie says, raising her eyebrows, "Nobody told me the party was coming home. I would've put out drinks."

Emily rolls her eyes and goes over to the couch, leaning down to whisper something to Tommie, who makes a face and grins at Kim. "Ooh," Tommie exclaims, intrigued, "How's the other guy look?"

Kim becomes aware of the Rangers staring at her and bashfully rubs her neck. "Wasn't my proudest moment," she mumbles. In hindsight, there probably were _better_ ways to defend Zack's honor than getting in a fight with Ty _again._ And, technically, she hadn't known that Beck's neighbors had called the party in. That police response time had been _fast_ as hell.

"How are you feeling?" Rachel asks Tommie, walking over to the couch and putting a hand on her daughter's forehead, "Better?"

"Yeah, actually," Tommie says, embarrassedly shying away from the physical touch and glancing at the five of them just standing next to the front door, "I got up and walked around the house a little bit. Stretched out. And your soup is _amazing,_ by the way."

"Told you it cures everything," Emily says, messing up Tommie's hair as she walks by the couch on her way to her bedroom, "I'm gonna go lay down. Tommie, we need to watch the new episode later, like, after dinner."

"Also, you're grounded," Rachel calls after her.

"Yeah, that's fair."

Rachel walks over to the fridge and peers inside. "Who’s coming to pick you guys up?"

Kim glances at the others. Definitely not their parents. "Uh…" She silently raises her eyebrows when Zack points at her. She mouths _Me?_ at him, and he holds his hand to his chest, a little lower than her head. Oh, right. Other her. "A family friend."

Pulling out her phone, Kim dials Kimberly’s number. _Please pick up, please pick up._

_"Hello?"_

"Hey! Hey, um, are you busy?" she says, quietly, into her phone, turning away so that Rachel can’t fully hear what she’s saying.

_"No, not really. Why?"_

"Uhhh, me and the others… we kinda need you to pick us up. Like, physically. In a car."

_"Can’t you teleport?"_

"Uh, no. Not right now, no. The address is 1011 Brightwater Circle. Alright, bye, thanks!" She hangs up before Kimberly can ask any other questions.

"Hey, whoa, isn’t this where you guys just were?" Kim looks up at Tommie’s voice and follows her eyes to the TV. A breaking news bulletin flashes with the headline: _MYSTERIOUS MURDER IN LAKEWOOD._

"Emily, come out here and take a look at this," Rachel calls then grabs the remote and turns the volume up.

Emily pads out to the living room, a smudged makeup wipe in her hand, "What’s going on?"

_"Just about an hour ago, at approximately 9:30 this evening, the Angel Grove Sheriff’s Department received an anonymous tip about the house on 2889 Lakewood Court. When officers arrived on the scene, they found the owner of the house, Vivian Bhavani, deceased, and a message in what seems to be blood written on the wall--"_

Kim looks at Trini and Zack first. Trini is almost unreadable, but her lips are pursed and her jaw is clenched. It’s enough for Kim to see.

"That’s-- that’s my History teacher," Zack gapes, "I just… I just took a test for her this morning. What the hell?"

Tommie whistles, lowly, "Damn, and you guys were just down the street…"

"I’m gonna…" Emily swallows and heads back into her bedroom, "I’m gonna call Beck and see if he’s okay."

"Wait," Jason says, "What did they say the message was about?" But the news report has already moved onto the next story for the night.

" _Consider this a sign of things to come,_ " Rachel answers.

"What?"

She holds her phone up, "News article."

Kim meets Jason’s gaze then looks at the other Rangers. It’s too serious to be _just_ a local crime. A message in blood? Sounds like…

"Rita," Trini whispers under her breath so that only the five of them can hear.

Or, at least, someone else just as dangerous.

 

* * *

 

Kimberly knocks on the door to 1011 Brightwater Circle and rings the doorbell for good measure. This neighborhood is _really_ nice, and the house she and Tommy had pulled up to is _also_ really nice. Big windows that they would’ve been able to see straight into, if the blinds hadn’t been pulled shut.

The door swings open, and a brunette woman looks between the two of them. "You must be the family friend," she says and holds her hand out, "Rachel."

Right. The lady in the picture Kim had sent them the other night. "Kimberly." As she shakes Rachel’s hand, she catches a glimpse of the kids over Rachel’s shoulder, just lounging in the living room. And one Tommie Oliver.

She shoots Tommy a look.

"Gabe," he says, catching sight of Tommie and stopping himself in time from saying his first name.

Rachel turns to say over her shoulder, "Kids, your ride’s--" But they’re already heading out the door.

"Thank you for letting them stay for a bit," Kimberly says, "Have a nice night."

"You, too."

The seven of them don’t talk until they all pile into the Jeep, Kim on Zack’s lap, Trini on Jason’s, and Billy in the middle of the backseat. As Kimberly pulls out of the driveway, a sedan comes up to the curb and waits for her to leave before parking next to the SUV that’s already there.

"Alright, so, what’s all this about?" Kimberly asks.

"Uhhh, I… got into a fight," Kim answers, "There was a party, and I got into a fight. Andmaybegotarrested."

Kimberly stops the car at a stop sign leading out of the neighborhood. "Maybe it’s my ears," she says, turning around in her seat to look at Kim, "But I could’ve sworn you said you got _arrested._ "

"Uhhh, nope, you heard right."

Blinking at the five of them, Kimberly just shakes her head and resumes driving. "You know what? I'm not even going to ask. I don't wanna know. I _don't_ wanna know."

"Have you heard about the news?" Jason asks, changing the subject.

"You're gonna have to be more specific," Tommy replies, "There's a lot of news all the time."

"There's… been a murder."

"Oh, yeah, I was reading about that to Kimberly before we came to pick you up."

Trini leans forward and grumbles when the seatbelt abruptly stops, cutting into her shoulder. "Do you think it's Rita? 'Cause before Rita came, there were a bunch of murders, too, 'cept they were like… bloody."

"The article I was reading said there was no visible cause of death," Tommy says, "Which is weird, but… not if Rita or someone else is involved. Maybe it _is_ her."

"Okay, but last time," Billy chimes in, "Rita was looking for gold, so she went around, like, tearing gold out of people's skulls--"

Kimberly winces. "Oh, gross."

"But this is clean. I mean, there's blood on the wall. You know what I mean."

Tommy glances at Kimberly, "Magic, probably."

"She might not be looking for gold this time," Kimberly says, "Might not have to tear out anyone's skull."

"Question is, then, what _is_ she looking for? And how do we get there before she does?"

 

* * *

 

"Next time," Tommie complains, brushing her jeans off, "Give me a few hours for my dinner to digest before we go somewhere." She uncomfortably rubs her stomach and frowns.

Rita scowls. "You talk too much." It's a sign of something -- she doesn't know _what,_ but presumably, a perfectly mind-controlled minion wouldn't talk as much as this pathetic human does. Then again, all humans babble.

Tommie opens her mouth to talk back, but a low rumble from Zedd makes her think twice about that.

"Do you think she's ready?" Rita asks.

"She doesn't have a choice," Zedd answers. She doesn't want to think about what will happen if Tommie _isn't_ ready.

"Do not fail me," Rita hisses as she removes the green power coin from on top of her scepter. The scepter instantly feels lighter in her hand, less alive, quieter without the buzz of its heart. She holds it out for Tommie to take.

Warily, Tommie eyes the coin then inches closer. Around them, the forest is dark and quiet, but Rita hears the ringing of the power coin as clear as day. Tommie closes her hand around the coin and pulls it close to her chest, her brow furrowing. The coin buzzes quietly, almost angrily, sensing someone else holding it -- someone else who _isn't_ its master. Tommie sharply inhales. Her eyes flash green, and the coin responds in kind, a bright, green glow peeking out from between her closed fingers.

Rita's skin tingles. She'll keep her armor if Tommie manages to morph, but nevertheless, it starts to feel a little suffocating on her skin without the power coin by her side. She shrugs her shoulders, nervously. Next to her, Zedd watches, silently, unmoving.

Tommie breathes heavier, hand trembling, brow furrowing. It's taking too long. She can't do it.

Gasping, Tommie drops the coin and frantically shakes her hand, cradling it close to her chest as she collapses to her knees. "I'm sorry," she laments, "I'm sorry, I can't do it, it _burns._ " She keeps mumbling pathetic excuses and apologies into the dirt, out of fear and shame, but Rita and Zedd both ignore her.

"She's not strong enough--" Rita starts but stops the moment she turns and sees Zedd's visor glowing red. "We need more time," she says, hesitantly, "Emperor."

Zedd growls and leans in close. Rita tries her best not to move backward out of instinct. It occurs to her just then that she can _hear_ him breathing, the cold metal of his helmet only inches away from her face, but she can't _feel_ his breath. There's a dark nothingness to greet her when she glances at the grill covering where his mouth would be. If he had one.

"You're lucky we have an abundance of that," he snarls in response. Zedd holds his hand out and summons something from his pocket dimension -- a helmet of those warriors that humans called knights. Rita recognizes it as the one that now dead woman had used to attack Tommie, slightly dented from where Tommie's hand had stopped the impact. Zedd shoves the helmet at her, and she scrambles to not drop it.

"Make this live," he orders.

Rita looks at the helmet in disdain. He could just do it himself--

Zedd tilts his head at her.

"Fine," she grumbles, waving her scepter. The green power coin flies from where it lays on the ground and returns back to the head of her scepter. Tommie whines. "Get _up,_ " Rita orders, "I hate groveling. I want you to watch this and see what a _real_ servant is like."

Tommie scrambles to her feet, her eyes curious as Rita sets the helmet on the ground and steps back.

Aiming, Rita fires a blast of green energy at the helmet. A bright flash makes Tommie cover her eyes, but neither Rita nor Zedd look away. When the light clears, a knight stands, dull, metallic armor covering every inch of his body. There are two slits in the helmet where his eyes should be, but he has no eyes. In fact, the only sign that this isn't just an empty suit of armor is the faint, green glow from behind his chestplate, visible in the cracks between each piece of metal as he moves.

The knight kneels in front of Rita, head bowed, one hand on his knee, the other on the sword sheathed at his side. "Empress, Emperor," he greets.

Tommie crosses her arms and scowls.

"Rise," Zedd commands, "What is your name?"

"Page," the knight says, rising to his feet but still respectfully bowing his head, "As I am yours."

"Latin," Tommie mutters under her breath.

"Pardon?"

Tommie waves her hand, "Nothing… Carry on."

"What can you do, Page?" Rita asks. She hadn't thought of powers when bringing him to life -- let the magic take care of itself, after all -- but Zedd's patience with her is already running thin. This has to be good if she's going to stay useful.

Page looks at her scepter then at Zedd's staff and shakes his helmet. He turns to Tommie, "May I see your jacket?" He holds out a gloved hand.

Tommie glances at the three of them then slowly takes her jacket off and gives it to him. "Pretty polite for evil, aren't you?"

"I live by a code," he responds, bundling her jacket up.

"You've been alive for, like, two minutes."

Page, instead of giving her the satisfaction of a biting response, says, "This jacket… Your mother bought it for you… in a village named… Chicago."

Tommie tenses and drops her arms to her side, her fists clenching. "How do you know that?" she demands, angrily.

"It became your favorite after she and your father died in the crash," he continues then looks at Tommie, "You were alone after that, and this was all you had left of them--"

The metallic, green glint of Tommie's knife is unmistakable as she flicks it open and lunges for Page all in one move. She yelps in surprise, though, stopping quick in her attack. Rita smirks at the tip of Page's sword just inches from Tommie's neck, unwavering. As inhuman as her eyes are, she almost hadn't seen Page move.

"I read objects," Page says, sheathing his sword just as quickly and smoothly as he had drawn it, and hands the jacket back to Tommie who irritatedly yanks it back from him, "And people. I read where they have been, who they are… and then I take it from them."

Rita raises her eyebrows in interest. "You take it from them? Their history?"

Tommie takes a wary step back and puts her jacket back on, zipping it up to the collar.

"Yes," Page nods, "Do you have someone you wish for me to take from?"

Rita looks at Zedd, chuckling a little eagerly. Zedd doesn't have any semblance of facial expression, but even he looks… pleased. "Actually," she drawls, "I have five."

 

* * *

 

They're close to Kim's house when seven communicators beep at the same time. Glancing at Tommy in momentary surprise, Kimberly pulls off to the shoulder of the road and turns in her seat so that everyone can lean in as she presses the button on the side of her communicator. "Go for Kimberly. Everyone else is here, too."

_"Rangers, there's trouble at the gully outside of the city -- where Billy, Kim, and Zack were fighting the Putties last week."_

"Trouble?" Jason asks, "What kind of trouble? More Putties?"

 _"A little… different than that,"_ Alpha says, slowly, _"It's best if you just see for yourselves. Kimberly and Tommy, you should head to the ship."_

"We're on our way," Kimberly says then looks at the Rangers, "Alright, I'm gonna find a back road to drive through, and then the moment we're out of sight, you guys teleport."

 

* * *

 

It's way past the time she should be in bed when Trini teleports to the gully with the others. She tenses, ready for anything, but instead of seeing a crowd of Putties creating havoc, she sees the figure kneeling in the middle of the dirt clearing first.

"Guys," Trini says, nodding, "There."

They all turn, Jason instinctively stepping forward first. Everyone falls behind him in the shape of a V, Trini and Kim on either side of him. The figure is just… standing there. Trini squints, trying to see some kind of recognizable features in the darkness or something, but it's not like there are any street lamps around. Just the moon and that's not much lighting to go off of.

"Hey!" Jason calls out, "You lost, bud?"

The figure's head raises at that. Trini stiffens as they stand. Now, she can see more of a shape to the shadow as it walks toward them.

"What the hell is that?" Kim asks, "Is that a… sword?"

All five of them take a collective step back as the knight comes into clarity. Trini bumps into Billy, and he steadies her with two hands on her shoulders. She can't see any sign of human life in that suit of armor, not even the whites of eyes or the movement of breathing, but something else draws her attention.

"Jason," she murmurs, nudging him with her elbow, "See the space between each of his armor plates?" She points at the faint, green glow that's barely visible. "This isn't right."

"Oh, there's a straight-up _knight_ standing in front of us, and _that's_ the thing that tips you off with this not being right?" Zack whispers. Kim jabs him in the side.

The knight points at Jason. "Red Ranger," a male voice echoes out of the emptiness of his helmet, "I challenge you to a duel."

"Uh…" Jason blinks.

"You heard him," Billy whispers.

"Uh," he repeats, his armor slowly materializing on his body, "Okay, I guess."

Trini and the others follow suit as Jason summons his sword, but when she steps forward behind him, the knight holds up a hand.

" _No._ Just the Red Ranger."

Trini glances at Kim, who shrugs in response. "Fine," she mutters, "But we got his back." The knight doesn't seem to acknowledge her.

The comms in Trini's helmet crackle to life, and Kimberly's voice greets her. _"Hey, what'd we miss?"_

"Jason's… duelling a knight," Kim says, a little incredulously, "Or he's about to."

 _"Big, scary knight? Monster teeth?"_ Tommy asks.

"Nope. Just a knight. One sword. No claws. Or teeth."

_"Huh."_

Drawing his sword, the knight grips it with one hand, the other just resting on his sheath. He stands still, waiting for Jason to make the first move. Trini gulps, a bad feeling settling in the pit of her stomach.

Jason strikes, and the knight blocks it, but Trini doesn't even catch his sword moving. Then, Jason flies past them, skidding to a stop on the ground, coughing and clutching at his chest.

"Jason!" Kim and Billy rush to his side while Trini glances back at the knight. He's hardly moved, only shifting his feet to change his stance.

"Zack, get your axe out," Trini says.

"Already ahead of you," he replies, twirling it in his hand.

Trini concentrates and runs at the knight, brushing each of her hands against her thighs as she moves. The metal armor covering her skin shifts, forming itself into twin daggers that fit perfectly in her palms. The space the armor leaves is covered up instantly with new metal, not leaving a beat for her to miss. Trini pulls her arm back and throws the first dagger at the knight, but he easily dodges it and it clatters uselessly to the ground, feet away. She grips the other dagger tight in her hand and whirls, aiming the blade at the knight's helmet.

A gloved hand comes up and grasps her wrist, tightly, suddenly, stopping her attack. She struggles and only remembers that he has _two_ hands at the last moment and yanks herself away, throwing herself _at_ the knight and tackling him instead of away. The whistle of his sword only misses her by millimeters, and she counts all of her blessings as she slams her shoulder into his chest. He goes stumbling but recovers quickly. She's already retreated by the time he recovers, though, far out of reach of his sword.

Zack comes up behind him and swings his axe at the knight's neck.

It passes right under his helmet.

"Oh, shit," Zack mutters as the knight turns around.

"That tickles," the knight says, almost gleefully, then backhands Zack.

Zack hits the ground, groaning and pressing his helmet into the dirt.

Jason, Billy, and Kim come up beside Trini, all their weapons brandished except Kim who just cracks her knuckles. Or, well, clanks her gloved metal hands together.

"We're not duelling anymore," Jason says into his comms, "We're getting out butts handed to us by Sir Lancelot. Doesn't he have, like, a crusade to go fail?"

"That's not how any of that goes," Billy says, quietly.

"Whatever."

 _"Find his weakness,"_ Kimberly offers, very, very helpfully, _"Every monster has one."_

"That's Page to you, peasant," the knight says, pointing his sword at Jason.

"What?"

"Page," the knight repeats, "That is my name."

"Like those boys that carry stuff around for _real_ knights?" Kim asks, chuckling.

Page growls and points his sword at her, instead.

Trini sighs, "Oh, real smooth, Kim, you pissed him off."

"He's pissing _me_ off."

"The green glow," Billy pipes up, abruptly, "Whatever's inside his chest. We gotta get to it. _That's_ his weakness."

Well. Seems like the obvious way to go. Trini holds her hands out, and the discarded dagger on the ground zips past Page and back into her hand. "Alright, go time."

The four of them rush at Page just as Zack recovers, and he catches onto their plan fast enough, jumping on the knight and trying to restrain him from the back. Maybe it's the fact that they're just _doing,_ but everything still goes wrong. Page flips Zack over his back, blocks Billy's lance with his sword, and dodges every punch Kim throws his way. He punches Jason in the stomach, sending him reeling. When Trini tries to lunge at him with her daggers again, he steps out of the way, using her own momentum against her and yanking her into a chokehold, his sword just millimeters away from her neck.

"Trini!" Jason freezes, holding a hand out as if to stop Page.

Breathing in carefully, Trini doesn't move, even though there's armor all over her body, including her neck. She doesn't doubt that his sword could probably decapitate her.

"You're afraid," Page says, his voice echoing around the hollow emptiness of his helmet. The arm that's keeping her hostage is pressed against her collarbone, his hand gripping her shoulder tightly.

"Shut up," she snaps, "You don't know what you're talking about. As if I'm afraid of a hunk of metal like you."

"I'm not what you're afraid of," he replies, "You're afraid that you won't be able to keep saving the world like the _Power Rangers_ did." Trini's brow furrows as he keeps speaking. "They saved Harwood so many times, but if Angel Grove burns, it'll burn because of you."

Trini's blood runs cold, and a sharp pain jolts through her chest. She sees Kim tilt her head in confusion as the other four stare. They had heard that. Didn't know what it means, but they'd _heard_ it, nonetheless.

"How--" she starts, but Page interrupts her.

"I know all there is to know about you. And, now, I think I'll take that page out of your history."

Before she can react, he steps back and releases her from the chokehold but grabs her by the neck, lifting her off of the ground.

The dark night sky blurs by too fast for Trini to register, but she vaguely hears Kim shout her name as Page hurls her across the clearing. She lands with a dull, harsh _thud_ and feels the beginning of a headache coming on. Coughing, Trini pushes herself to her knees, blinking away disorientation and nausea as she recovers. Nasty fall. Wouldn't wanna go through that again.

A pair of hands on her shoulders help her up, and a girl's voice speaks to her. "Trini? Trini, can you hear me? Are you okay?"

She looks up at a figure clad in pink armor and immediately scrambles back, startled. "What? Who-- who are you? _What_ are you?"

The figure-- Girl? Must be with the design of that armor. Unfortunate. The figure tilts her head, confused. "Trini, what are you talking about?"

"How do you know my _name?_ " Trini glances down at her hands, seeing similar armor to the girl's on her arms. "What the fuck?" The moment she tries to flex her fingers, the armor disappears, and she pats her clothes down, blinking in surprise. "Where-- where'd it go?"

"Guys! Guys, we have a problem!" Trini looks up, attention diverted as the girl shouts to… to the others. Three other figures -- the _guys_ \-- in red, black, and blue attack a…

"This is too weird," she mutters under her breath.

The knight fends off the other armored figures way too easily, and all three of them retreat, putting some distance between them and the knight. The red one looks at the pink one. "What's wrong?" he asks.

 _The leader,_ Trini thinks, _The red one's always the leader._

The pink one puts a hand to her helmet, where her ear would be, and talks to the red one, but Trini has the feeling that she's talking to someone else in that helmet, too. "Trini doesn't _recognize_ us. And she's demorphed on her own. I-I don't know what happened, but the monster did something to her."

"Alpha, get her out of here," the red one orders, "If she can't stay morphed, she needs to get to safety, and we'll handle that later. First, we gotta deal with Lancelot here."

"Uh," Trini says, and then her vision gets swallowed up by a bright flash of yellow light.

 

* * *

 

She lands against a cold, metal floor on the flat of her back, groaning and clutching her head against a wave of dizziness.

"Trini, are you okay?" A woman's voice asks, hesitantly, and she glimpses at hands hovering near her but not touching her, and she quickly scrambles away as she had before.

"Next person to touch me loses their hands," she says, a little bit too loudly, not really knowing what she could even use to do that since she doesn't have a fucking machete on her, but the brunette woman backs off, anyway. Good. "Where--" Trini glances around. She can hardly even comprehend what she's looking at. "Would someone tell me what the _fuck_ is going on?"

A man with short hair standing next to the woman clears his throat. "That's… a long story," he says, quietly.

"Well, give me the short version," she responds, flatly.

"You're a Power Ranger," the woman offers.

Trini's first instinct is to scoff. She stands, leaning against a metal pillar, keeping some distance between her and the two people. "That's ridiculous," she mutters, "I'm not a Power Ranger. I think I'd _know--_ And, besides, the Power Rangers are…" She trails off, thinking about the figures clad in armor that she'd seen. They hadn't looked like Power Rangers. "Well, they don't look like _that._ "

The woman furrows her brow, curiously, and wrings her hands together. "What _do_ they look like, then?"

It sounds like a dumb question. She must not be from around here. Everyone knows what the Power Rangers look like. Trini humors her, anyway, "They don't wear armor for one. It's more like… I don't know, spandex? Or something. Bulletproof spandex. The colors were right, though. Red, black, blue, pink, and, uh…" She glances down at her hand, clenching it into a fist. The armor doesn't reappear. "Where's the robot?"

The man frowns. "Robot?"

Something that sounds like claws skittering against metal follows his words, and then a-- Trini clamps a hand over her mouth and gasps into her fingers. "What the _hell_ is that?"

"Oh, no, Trini," the… thing says, _sadly._

"Alpha 5," the man answers as if that means anything to her, "You said… robot."

" _That's_ a robot?" Could robots even look sad? It looks so… weird and not at all made out of solid, hard edges like she's used to seeing. Weird, wiggly arms. Round head like some kind of flying saucer. It blinks at her.

Trying her best not to hyperventilate, Trini shakes her head, "No, no, that's not what I meant. The robot _I'm_ talking about -- he's black and gold and silver and a _lot_ taller. Like, the size of a person. There's, like, some kind of animal on his chest--" She gestures as if to help her description along.

"Robo Knight," the man says, suddenly, his eyes widening in realization.

"Uh, sure, yeah, if that's what he's called."

The woman has a look on her face, almost close to pity, and Trini doesn't like it one bit. "What year is it?" she asks, "Just making sure."

The answer comes without Trini thinking twice about it. "2013."

Sighing, the woman hangs her head and closes her eyes as if the next part pains her to ask. It confuses the hell out of Trini. "And… where did you say you live again?"

"I didn't," Trini answers; she hadn't even told them her name, but somehow, they knew, anyway, "I live in Harwood County… Why? Where am I now? Where are we?"

"Angel Grove."

Trini frowns. That's… "That's _hours_ away. What the _hell?_ How did I get here?"

The woman worriedly glances at the man, and Trini can see an answer on the tip of her tongue and in her anxious body language, but she doesn't get the satisfaction of an answer because the… robot tilts his head as if hearing something then rushes off down one of the many hallways leading away from the chamber they're in. After looking at each other then at Trini, the man and woman run off after the robot, too.

"Stay here," the man says, "Don't move."

"Uh…" Well, she's definitely not going to listen to that. Trini turns around and takes in her surroundings. There's a bunch of hallways, one of which the man, woman, and robot disappeared down, and in the middle of the room, a glowing ball of light surrounded by five… whatever those things are. They look kinda like platforms, but Trini has no idea what they're for.

And a door.

She takes the steps up to the door and examines it, looking for a handle. Nope, no handle. Warily, she raises her hand and knocks on it. The metal echoes when her knuckles hit it, but it doesn't open. "Uh, hello?" she calls out, not really expecting an answer.

"Hello, Trini," a voice booms out at her.

Trini whirls around and presses herself against the door, her heart racing in her chest. A… God, what other weird shit is hiding around here? She blinks at the floating head on the opposite wall. It looks like one of those PinArt things she used to play with as a kid.

"How-- how do you know my name?" she asks, reluctantly. Maybe someone will actually give her an answer for once. A _real_ answer.

"You are a Power Ranger," the head says as if that explains everything, "A protector of the city of Angel Grove and the world."

"Okay… Cool." Not a real answer. "Am I in a spaceship? Is this a spaceship?"

"Yes."

"Oh, alright, cool." This is gonna be one hell of a dream to tell Summer about when she wakes up. Absolutely _wild._ "And you said I'm… a Power Ranger? Let me guess, the yellow one, right?"

"Correct."

"And you are…"

"I am Zordon of Eltar. I am your advisor of sorts. I used to be a Power Ranger as well, but the mantle has since been passed to you and your friends."

"My… friends. Right." Must be those other four she'd seen. Not that she _knows_ them. "If I'm a Power Ranger, then how come I'm not out there fighting that… thing? It kinda looked like the others were getting their asses kicked."

"There have been… complications," Zordon says, slowly, "You're in danger, and it's not safe for you to be out in the field."

Trini furrows her brow and steps away from the door. "What kind of danger?" she asks, curiously.

"We believe that the knight you saw has taken some of your more recent memories."

Okay. Well. Okay. Trini closes her eyes against another wave of dizziness and takes a deep breath. Weird direction for her dream to take, but whatever. Just roll with it. "Alright, uh, how recent? That woman asked me what year it is. Why? What year _is_ it? What's today?"

"It is September 27th, 2016."

Trini's breath is knocked out of her lungs, and she stumbles, holding onto the railing of one of the platforms for support. "What? Three-- three _years?_ I don't--" She looks at Zordon, "My family--"

"Your family is safe," Zordon answers before she finishes the question, sensing her anxiety.

She keeps thinking. "The… the Power Rangers. The ones _I_ know. Did they… did they win?"

The ball of light in the middle of the room flickers with images that she recognizes as the Rangers she'd known when she lived in Harwood. The suits she recognizes are mixed with something else -- other Rangers in some big battle that faintly tugs at her mind, but it ultimately doesn't ring a bell for her.

"Yes," Zordon says, finally, as the ball of light goes back to its neutral state, "Those Rangers won. And, now, the Power is with you."

She still stares at him as if she doesn't believe him.

"Reach inside your pocket."

"Uh…" Trini obliges, patting her pockets down. She pulls out a cell phone that doesn't look familiar and some kind of coin. A yellow crystal sits in the middle of the coin, surrounded by a ring of rustic, golden metal. "This is… mine?" she asks, holding it up to the light.

Zordon nods. If that was supposed to be a nod. She's not sure how a head in a wall can nod.

Okay, way too weird.

Right when she's thinking about how absolutely ridiculous this dream of hers is and how she's _definitely_ not watching any more sci-fi movies before bed anymore, another question occurs to her.

"Wait… if this is 2016 and I live in _Angel Grove,_ where-- what happened to Summer Landsdown?"

Zordon pauses, possibly not knowing who she's talking about, and Trini keeps her eye on the ball of light in the middle of the chamber. It seems to be some sort of… viewing thing. She waits, expectantly.

Then, a last wave of dizziness slams into her, and the next thing she sees is black.

 

* * *

 

Without Trini on the field, there's only four of them to fight Page, and Kim has to say that she doesn't like those odds at _all._ Four against one doesn't seem like a fair fight, really, but as they've already seen, a fair fight would get them all wrecked in seconds. At this point, she's just hoping that they'll wear the knight down before they get worn down.

Surprisingly, it seems to be working. They rush him at all sides, changing directions and attacks, then retreat and go at it again. The guy -- if he's even a guy at all -- only has one sword and one body. Well, Kim's not sure if he has a body, but he _has_ to get tired. Everyone gets tired, right?

"Alright," she huffs for the millionth time they've put some distance between them and Page. It must be some kind of chivalric code or whatever, but Page never presses on whenever they back off. Not that Kim's complaining. "I think this is it, you guys. We've got this."

If she says it enough times, she'll believe it.

 _"You've got this,"_ Kimberly says, reassuringly.

"How's Trini?" Jason asks.

_"Uh… she's okay."_

"Are her memories back?"

_"Well. No."_

Kim cuts in, "Are they gonna _come back_ if we kill this guy?"

_"Probably."_

"Probably? _Probably?_ What happens if you're _wrong?_ "

 _"Okay,"_ Tommy interrupts, _"Every time a monster does something, it's always been reversed when the monster's blown up."_

"Well," Kim says, hoping she doesn't sound too absolutely panicked, "What if this is the first time that _doesn't_ happen?"

_"Then… we'll deal with that bridge when we get there."_

Really reassuring.

"Okay, let's go," Jason nods, "For Trini."

He and Billy rush at Page first, distracting the knight by keeping him busy with their sword and lance. They trade a few strikes, and when Jason and Billy step away, Zack is there to take their place, catching the blade of Page's sword with his edge of his axe. He twists his wrist, and the sword goes flying out of the knight's hand, landing in the dirt feet away from Kim.

Jason and Billy are quick to pounce on Page, holding his arms behind his back and keeping themselves away from his gloved hands. Zack grabs Page's chestplate, wrestling with it and yanking it off after some resistance. He throws it aside, revealing black nothingness that's only offset by a dimly glowing green ball of energy. It sparks angrily at being exposed to the open air. Zack jumps back to avoid the sparks hitting him.

"Kim, now! Your bow!" Jason shouts.

Her brain buzzing with anxiety that she knows isn't hers, Kim shakes her head and grabs Page's sword from the ground instead. She grips it in both of her hands and lunges, driving the blade right into the green ball of energy.

Light swallows up her vision, and she feels the heat of the explosion, even through her armor, as she's thrown flat on her back. When her ears stop ringing, Kim sits up and partially demorphs, her helmet disappearing. She rubs at her forehead. "Did… did we get him?" she asks, weakly.

"Yep," Jason calls out, "I think so."

Kim looks around the clearing. Besides Jason, Billy, and Zack, all recovering from being thrown to the ground as well, she's alone. Page is nowhere to be seen.

 

* * *

 

There's the ruins of an old palace on the moon that Zedd had taken to after he… so kindly _rescued_ her from drifting forever in the hollow vastness of space. A dark energy perpetually resides around it, and certain evil charms that Rita can't trace the source of hide it from mortal eyes. When she walks the hallways, she can sense the residual energies of the ones who walked these halls before her. Evil, too, but ultimately too weak to conquer the Earth.

Well, not her. Not _this_ her, at least, and not _this_ Lord Zedd.

An angry shout comes from the throne room, and Rita sighs to herself. She might have to amend that statement. Turning on her heel, she makes her way back to the throne room.

"What seems to be the problem, my lord?" she asks, forcing the most polite tone she can muster.

"Your _knight,_ " he snarls, getting up from the throne in the middle of the room, slamming his staff down on the ground. The stone underneath his feet cracks just a little bit. "Your knight _failed._ "

"Well, then," she taps into his pocket dimension and withdraws an object, the size of what humans would call a grenade, "Why don't we use one of these? I've always wanted to see it in action."

Zedd growls and waves his hand, making the grenade disappear from her hand. "No," he says, irritatedly, "You obviously have never had the experience of making a monster before. Those don't _grow_ on trees, as those pathetic mortals say. I wouldn't just make _any_ monster grow. What's the point of making a monster grow that has _already_ failed? A waste of resources."

Rita frowns. It's not her fault, but she can't help but see it as a personal attack on her ability to make a proper monster.

"It _is_ your fault," Zedd mutters, "It's a good thing that buying time is exactly what we need."

 

* * *

 

Trini wakes to Kim gently tapping her on the cheek, and she unceremoniously smacks the other girl's hand away. "Get off _me,_ " she groans, pulling herself into a sitting position. She rubs at her eyes and glances at the Rangers, Kimberly, Tommy, and, Alpha 5 crowding around her. "Can you guys give me some space?"

"Crazy girl's back," Zack says with a grin.

"Do you remember who we are?" Kim asks, softly, her eyebrows raising in concern.

"I really wish I didn't," Trini deadpans.

"Yep," Jason confirms with a chuckle, "That's her, alright."

There's a quiet sigh of relief from everyone else in the room that makes Trini's gut twist. She looks at Kimberly. "What happened?"

Kimberly frowns, "Do you… not remember?"

She doesn't respond and just waits.

"Uh," Kim takes over for Kimberly, "Well, there was, like, a knight. Which I guess belonged to Rita. Maybe. And he… took some of your memories. You didn't… remember any of us."

"Huh," is all Trini says, "Well, that's one heck of a fever dream."

"But, you're back, now," Billy says, excitedly clapping. He smiles at her, and Trini smiles back.

"I think you kids deserve some rest," Tommy says, patting Zack on the back, "Especially after… maybe getting arrested."

Kim coughs into her fist.

"Yeah, definitely," Jason nods, "I'm exhausted. See you guys later." One by one, Jason and Billy teleport out.

"Hey," Kimberly says, motioning at Kim, "I need to talk to you for a sec. Later, though. Text me when you can."

"Uh… okay, sure." Kim gives Trini a small smile before she gets up and takes Zack's hand then the two of them teleport out together in a black and pink flash, leaving Trini with Kimberly and Tommy.

Kimberly tilts her head, curiously. "You don't remember _anything_ from the past, like, hour or so? Anything you said when your memories were gone? Nothing about… where you're from… what year it is… nothing like that?"

Trini purses her lips and shakes her head, "Nope."

 

* * *

 

As late as it is, somehow, her dad isn't home, so Kim doesn't hold back from making noise and talking to Zack as she brushes her teeth and gets ready for bed. He's lounging on her bed with her laptop in his lap, waiting for her so they can watch something on Hulu before going to sleep.

"Long day, huh?" she asks, leaning against the doorframe of her bathroom, her toothbrush half in her mouth.

"Yeah," Zack sighs, "Really long day."

"Did you mean it?"

"Hm?"

She pauses her brushing and takes her toothbrush out of her mouth so that he can hear her more clearly. "Did you mean it when you said you love me?"

Zack blinks at her, "I-- Yeah, of _course_ I meant it, Kim. What… why would you ask that?"

"I… I just wanted to make sure," she says, quietly, then turns to rinse her mouth out in the sink. When she's done in the bathroom, she turns the light off and sits down on her bed, grabbing her phone.

"I love you," Zack says, bumping her shoulder with his.

She can't stop the dumb, idiotic smile that comes. Doesn't want to, anyway. "I love you, too," Kim mumbles.

"Oh, yeah, I'd hope so," he smirks, "I mean, you defended my _honor_ tonight. What girl can I say has done that for me?"

"Shut up." She leans over and gives him a kiss on the cheek. "I'm glad I got to defend your honor. Less glad about getting arrested, but, you know, technicalities."

Kim taps on her phone screen and pulls up her text conversation with Kimberly.

_[KH 11:43 PM] hey what'd you wanna talk about?_

"Speaking of getting arrested," Zack says, casually, "What the hell is up with Emily's parents?"

Kim raises her eyebrows.

"They _bribed_ that cop," he whispers, conspiratorially, as if they're not the only two in her house or in her bedroom, "You _know_ that we're minors, Kim, only our parents can pick us up from jail."

"I mean… we would've been in a _ton_ of trouble if they hadn't done that," Kim says, pointedly, "Especially since Jason's got his ankle monitor and Trini's grounded, you know."

Zack whistles, lowly, under his breath, "Sure, but I'm just… I have mixed feelings. It just seems… I don't know, I don't like it. You shouldn't be able to do that, no matter how much money you have."

Kim doesn't really know what to say in response to that. On one hand… yeah. On the other hand… she's glad she didn't have to face her dad and hear about how this "rebellion" is because of the divorce and how she's lashing out and _whatever._

"Yeah, I guess," she says, instead.

_[KO 11:45 PM] Hey._

_[KO 11:45 PM] Just something I noticed while you guys were fighting that knight… You never drew your bow. Is there a problem with it? Because, if so, it's probably best to let Alpha know before it becomes a problem during battle or something._

Kim freezes, her heart twisting. Her thumb hovers over the send button, and she forces herself to tap it before she can back out.

_[KH 11:46 PM] there's no problem._

Setting her phone face down on her nightstand too quickly as if it'd burn her hand if she holds it for too long, Kim takes a deep breath and turns to Zack, who hadn't noticed her brief anxiety. "What d'you wanna watch?" she asks, snuggling into his side.

 

* * *

 

**Boston, Massachusetts**

Trini tells herself that this is definitely using her powers for personal gain, which goes against pretty much every superhero comic thing she's ever had a pop culture brush against, but she's had a long ass fucking day. She deserves this. Maybe just a little bit. Maybe just tonight.

This neighborhood that she's in is quiet. Like most other neighborhoods ever. But, there's a light on in a top window of a two-story house where a girl with dirty blonde hair is hunched over a spread of her laptop and notes on her desk. Trini shifts, readjusting her sitting position on the tree that's across the street from the house she's watching. She desperately wants to know if, underneath those notes and that laptop, is an old photograph taped to the wooden surface of the desk. She wants to jump down from this tree, walk across the street, climb into that window, and ask, _Why did we never talk about what happened to us?_

_Do you still have the same nightmares?_

_Have you moved on?_

Shaking her head, Trini sighs to herself and presses the button on her communicator, vanishing in a flash of yellow light.

 

* * *

 

Rachel stirs awake to the sound of clattering. Stilling and straining her ears, she listens for confirmation that comes from an unmistakable inhale. Getting off of the sofa, she peers into the darkness of the kitchen but doesn't see anyone. Figures. The house is starting to get old, anyway. Padding to the kitchen, she presses the switch on the wall and turns on the lights--

"Holy shit-- _Tommie!_ " Heart racing in her chest, Rachel breathes out a sigh of relief and stares at her daughter, "What… what're you _doing?_ "

Tommie, standing still with a cabinet open behind her and a plate in her hands, purses her lips, "What are _you_ doing?"

"I was working late," Rachel says, groggily, motioning at the coffee table in the living room where her papers and closed laptop are scattered. She would'ved stayed at the office if… well, if Emily hadn't called earlier.

"Uh, I was… hungry," Tommie says, sheepishly. She turns and puts the plate back up, recreating the clattering sound Rachel had woken up to. "But, uh, you know, I can just go--"

"No, stop," Rachel says, rubbing a hand over her eyes. Tommie pauses, glancing at the floor and hunching her shoulders. "Um… here, I'll make you something."

Tommie shakes her head, "No, it's okay, I can just wait 'til morning--"

"Tommie," she interrupts, firmly, "This is your home. If you're hungry, then you're hungry. I'm not gonna stop you from eating."

A minute passes, and Rachel's sure that Tommie is going to just walk away, which she'd be fine with because adopting Emily, at first, had been a lot of this same push-and-pull and learning how to _live_ together, but then, Tommie nods to herself in acceptance and takes a seat at the counter.

 

* * *

 

After about half an hour of silence and no elaboration from Kim on what she'd meant by "there's no problem," Kimberly gives up and throws her head against her pillow, groaning loudly.

"What's up?" Tommy asks, looking up from his laptop. He looks so serious with his glasses, but he's just playing a game of _Words with Friends_ with Adam… who is in the other room.

"Kim didn't use her bow in that battle earlier," she says, half-muffled, "I think she's scared."

"Scared of?"

Kimberly shrugs, "I don't know, but I think she made a conscious decision to avoid using it. And that's an issue." Among many other issues they have that they're not discussing. Tommie, for one, has been a taboo word between them since getting home from the ship. There hadn't been a hint of recognition in the girl's eyes when Kimberly and Tommy had shown up at that house. Not that any recognition would've explained Tommy's vision, anyway.

"Yeah, I guess so," he sighs, "But it's an issue we can deal with tomorrow. Like other things. Other… developments. Have you texted the group chat yet?"

"Nope. I'm about to, though."

Kimberly taps her phone screen and pulls up the all-encompassing Ranger group chat on Skype, the only platform that can really handle a group chat that has over a hundred of them in one space. Less can be said for conference calls, though.

 **_Kimberly Oliver_ ** _Angel Grove, we have a problem. (link attachment)_

 **_Kimberly Oliver_ ** _Rita's back, and she's killed. Or, well, SOMEONE has killed a teacher._

 **_Mike Parry_ ** _damnnnn, message in blood??? that's some next-level shit_

 **_Lauren Shiba_ ** _Mike, go to sleep._

 **_Lauren Shiba_ ** _Are you guys gonna need some help?_

 **_Kimberly Oliver_ ** _I think we're fine._

 **_Rocky DeSantos_ ** _Never fear, I'm here!_

 **_Kimberly Oliver_ ** _Rocky, what does that mean…_

 **_Kimberly Oliver_ ** _Rocky._

 **_Kimberly Oliver_ ** _???_

As the group chat keeps going off with messages that don't involve her, Kimberly glances at Tommy. He's got Skype open in a window on his laptop. "Don't tell me he means what I think he means," she starts.

"I think we should probably start prepping the couch," Tommy finishes for her.

 

* * *

 

This time, they appear in the ruins of the Krispy Kreme, still bordered off by yellow caution tape. Rita can feel the electricity in the air, the raw power of the Zeo Crystal that's so close yet so far. Tommie hunches her shoulders together, shoving her hands into the pockets of her jacket.

"I just ate _again,_ " she mutters, "What's with you and teleporting right after my meals?"

This time, Rita just scowls and snaps her fingers. A spark of green energy zips from her fingers and crackles in Tommie's face, causing her to flinch. "Silence." Zedd isn't here, still fuming on the moon about her abject failure, so Rita's patience is already wearing thin. "Your knife," she says, holding a hand out, "Give it to me."

Tommie narrows her eyes at her but obeys, reaching into her pocket and pulling it out. She flicks it open and hands it to Rita, blade pointing down. Rita examines the knife in her palm then waves her scepter at it. There's gold still in the area, remnants of Goldar that she can sense if she concentrates hard enough. It's those remnants that Rita focuses on as the metal of the knife transforms in her hand, changing into something familiar but different.

Rita presents the result to Tommie. The knife itself is longer, now, another shape entirely. The green blade now has an edge of silver around it, accented by slivers of living gold that she had tugged from the depths of the ground. Her failure born into something new, something, hopefully, more successful.

Intrigued, Tommie takes it and holds it in her hand, testing out the grip and feeling the new weight. "What'd you turn it into?"

"A dagger," Rita answers, simply.

"Why?"

She smiles, all teeth, "We're going to use it to call an old friend."

 

* * *

 

Lauren surprises him after the sun has long set and it's coming around again soon while he's standing in his driveway, packing bags into the trunk of his sedan. "Hey," she says, casually, and Rocky bangs his head on the trunk.

"Lauren--" He gapes at her then glances around, "Where'd you--"

She points at the back of his house, "Teleported."

He stares at her.

"Going somewhere?" she asks, nodding at his car and putting her hands in her pocket like it's casual, like this is casual, like they're not superheroes or something.

"Well," Rocky huffs, closing the trunk as he finishes, "I'm sure you heard the news."

Of course. She responded in the group chat. "I have." Her notifications have pretty much been muted for Skype, but important things still catch her attention. And this… is pretty important.

Rocky shrugs, "There's a need for me, so I'm going."

Lauren nods, "Cool, cool." Then, she drops the other shoe, the reason why she's here, "I'm coming with you."

Stopping on his way back inside, Rocky turns around and raises his eyebrows at her, "You're gonna what?"

She shrugs like it's nothing. "I'm coming with you," she repeats.

"It's… better to have fewer Rangers in the city," Rocky starts, slowly, and she can see him try to deter her in the look in his eyes, but she can also see that he knows his attempts are futile, "I think four's a good, round number. You know, besides the kids."

"Sure, that's fair," Lauren says in a light tone that betrays how much she _isn't_ going to budge on this, "But all of your bases aren't covered. You're putting yourself in the school, presumably, but you need someone on the _inside_ inside. I can make that happen."

He looks at her in disbelief.

"Cam and Hayley can help me make it happen," she amends.

"You're really not gonna let this go, are you?"

Lauren chuckles, "What can I say? I'm a Red."

Rocky shakes his head and puts his hands on his hips in a sort-of-but-failing stern, disapproving dad manner, "Alright, and what're you gonna tell Mia, then? She's gonna wanna come along if she knows you're getting involved."

She doesn't say anything, but her sigh and glance at 1) the engagement ring on her hand and 2) the ground tell Rocky everything he needs to know.

"I'm leaving in the morning," he says, finally relenting, "Five sharp. It takes about an hour to get to Angel Grove, and I wanna get there before the school day starts."

"Five sharp," she repeats, "I'll go get packed."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this only applies to one (1) person but... real life shoutout to a “johnny” who recognized the legacy t-shirt my friend rosie was wearing after seeing infinity war a few weeks ago: hearing abt a random chance encounter over my fic is absolutely wild but also so so cool and it made my day. and adam is ALSO my fave ranger. at least, my fave guy ranger, so kudos to u, johnny, hope u end up seeing this note.
> 
> legacy brings people together, that is all
> 
> credits/cameos:  
> \- kimberlyannharts (tumblr) for the monster-of-the-day name and pun in true power rangers fashion  
> \- shay aka BisexualHeroes (ao3) / bisexualpowerranger (tumblr)  
> \- beck/caboose aka cabooseachievables (ao3 and tumblr)  
> \- myn aka myndopeus (ao3 and tumblr)


	15. The King's Gambit, Part I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lauren Shiba arrives in Angel Grove, posing as an FBI agent to investigate Vivian's death, while Rocky DeSantos takes over as Trini and Zack's history teacher. On a spontaneous whim, Kim, Zack, Tommie, and Emily decide to skip the school day, but Tommie isn't all that she seems and her evil presence ends up affecting them all more than they know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 200k MY DUDES!!!
> 
> thank you all for your patience -- summer is always a gross time for me which is why i... frequently end up on hiatus during it; i’m getting ready to apply to grad school (for creative writing!) and just started my last (hopefully) year of undergraduate studies, so i’m gonna be having a busy second half of 2018
> 
> that being said, i write fic to cope with school stress so it’s not like i’d ever leave this akfjsjf just letting y’all know my situation; it sure is a shame that this is straight up fanfic so i can’t submit it as part of my writing portfolio for grad studies but what can u do ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
>  **chapter-specific warnings:** mentions of foster system abuse, extremely reckless decision making due to depression, impulsive teenager antics, suicidal ideation.

Trini works a crick out of her neck as she pushes open the door to the side entrance of Angel Grove High, cursing the weird position she'd woken up in this morning. The moment her palm presses against the cold glass and pushes and she steps inside the hallway, though, Trini freezes. The gym hallway looks different, the walls a soft tan instead of off-white-- and this isn't even the _gym_ hallway. She glances behind her, still finding the parking lot outside through the glass doors she'd just walked through, but when she looks back at the hallway, it's most definitely lined with red classroom doors and lockers instead of the two gymnasiums. The moment her eyes focus on a colorful group of kids walking down the hallway that she hasn't seen since freshman year, it clicks.

She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, tells herself to wake up before it gets worse-- And, then, an arm drapes across her shoulders, and Trini is forced to open her eyes.

"Hey," Summer says, smiling like they haven't not seen each other in three years, "Took the bus today?"

"Uh, yeah, sure," Trini answers, glancing at Summer's arm, deciding it feels wrong, and promptly removing Summer's arm from her shoulders. Summer doesn't react; she's used to Trini deciding when she doesn't want to be touched.

"Well," Summer glances at the watch on her wrist, "We've still got some time before the bell rings… Wanna head to the library?"

It takes Trini a moment to remember her routine with her ex-girlfriend, how they'd head to the back corner and whisper between themselves and press hesitant kisses to equally hesitant lips and-- Her chest twists, and she shudders.

"Trini, you okay?"

No, she wants to say, no, she's not okay. She hasn't been okay since this day, and Trini knows it's _this_ day, but, God, she can't wake up. She never can.

"Yeah," Trini lies, "I'm fine."

This dream hasn't come and haunted for almost a year. _Had a good record going,_ Trini thinks, bitterly, but she should've seen it coming. After last night, after… She shakes her head, waves off the thought, and taps her ex-girlfriend on the shoulder. Is it ex-girlfriend if she's still dreaming about the time they were together? Maybe, maybe not. "Come on," she says, "Let's just go to class."

Maybe if she can get Summer off-track then maybe she can change it. Maybe is a word that has run through Trini's mind too often. She should know better. Does know better but chooses not to acknowledge it.

"We've got thirty minutes," Summer counters, pouting, and Trini tears her eyes away. She can't stand to look at this anymore. "Trini, c'mon." Summer touches her hand, briefly, just for a moment, fast enough to remember that they're just standing in the middle of a half-crowded hallway and slow enough to remember that they're just standing in the middle of a half-crowded hallway.

Trini almost asks herself how this hallway had looked after, but she knows.

"Fine," she mutters and lets herself get dragged off to the library by the sleeve.

It blurs because dreams always do. Trini wants to hit the pause button, wants to rewind to before when she was waking up except she doesn't remember even waking up in her dream. She wants to be back in bed, wants to pick up her phone and text Summer and say, _Don't go to school today._ Wants to call into the front desk and fake some kind of emergency to put the school into shutdown, but that wouldn't save anybody. Harwood County High hadn't been the only place hit in the city.

Trini ends up at the library, way in the back, her backpack on the ground, her back against a bookshelf, the spines digging into her spine, and Summer trying to quietly kiss her except she moves her head. Summer kisses her cheek, instead.

"Everything okay?" Summer asks.

"Did you feel that?" Trini murmurs, even though she hadn't felt anything. It's coming.

"Feel what?"

The ground beneath them rumbles. Trini yanks Summer aside just as a couple of books _thud_ to the floor, right where Trini's head would've been.

Summer frowns, "Earthquake?"

"I don't know," Trini says, still lying, "Run."

"What? Trini--"

"Run!"

She grabs Summer's hand and takes off, but she's missing the powers she has in real life, the superhuman speed and strength she _wishes_ she had in this dream. But, Trini has a couple seconds of a head start already. Maybe she can make it farther than they did in the real world.

She doesn't. They don't.

The lights in the library flicker, and then, the ceiling collapses on top of them. She loses Summer's hand somewhere in between registering that there's something heavy pressing down on her chest and that the inside of her mouth tastes disgustingly like dirt and ash. Trini groans and sniffs the air. It smells like fire. Something is burning.

Struggling, she manages to lift the piece of rubble every so slightly that she can crawl out from underneath it. Being small helps for once. This has been one of the few times in her life that her size saved her.

Trini brings a hand to her face to wipe away the dirt, and it comes away with the first hints of blood. It's been years, but the sight of it still makes her sick to her stomach, and it's long, long minutes before she can stand up straight without feeling faint.

There's a sob. A weak cry that Trini instantly recognizes.

"Summer!" she calls out, repeating the name, stumbling over wreckage and broken ceiling tiles, until she finds her ex-girlfriend, her legs pinned underneath a bookshelf, and her heart breaks all over again. Trini clamps a hand to her mouth, trying to control her breathing, but something like a whimper still leaves her throat.

Summer's face is streaked with tears and blood, just like her yellow jacket. Trini kneels beside her and, with only a minimal amount of difficulty, helps her take her jacket off. "We need to keep your body temperature down," Trini mutters because it sounds like something someone on Grey's Anatomy would say. She doesn't know if it's helpful; she doesn't know what she's doing, but not doing anything is even _more_ terrifying.

"Trini, it-- it hurts," Summer whispers, and Trini grabs her hand, squeezes so tight that she can't feel her fingers anymore.

"I know," she says.

Summer looks up at the sky. She's trapped on her back -- that's pretty much _all_ she can look at. Most of the ceiling is gone, and the sound of chaos is hard to drown out. Trini follows her gaze. Spaceships fly by, faster than Trini can count, the sun reflecting off of their metallic hulls.

"What-- what's happening?" Summer's voice wavers, and her grip on Trini's hand tightens.

"I don't know."

But, Trini does know. Back then, she hadn't, but now… Now, she knows their name, and she knows that the Power Rangers -- not her and her team, of course, but the legacy that chose her -- defeated them in the end. She knows that, for months after, when she and her family had moved from Harwood, they had driven instead of flown because being back in the sky was too frightening. She knows that she had walked into her second high school in Amber Beach and looked up at the sky, almost expecting to see a fleet of warships diving down on the school again. She knows that they haunted her nightmares for years, all up until weeks after she moved to Angel Grove.

The Armada.

"Why didn't you save me?" Summer gasps, abruptly letting go of Trini's hand and clutching at her side, wincing in pain.

Trin furrows her brow and looks at her, "What?" She couldn't have heard that right.

"Why didn't you _save_ me?" she repeats, her jaw clenching, "You're a _Power Ranger,_ aren't you?"

"I--" Trini fumbles, not even knowing how Summer knows that. _Wake up, wake up, wake up._ She closes her eyes tight and opens them. Nothing changes. "I'm-- I'm not one _now,_ " she says, uselessly. To demonstrate, she pushes at the bookshelf on top of Summer. It doesn't budge.

Summer argues, "You _could_ have."

"No, I--"

"You're gonna let them down, Trini," Summer hisses, her voice dripping with disappointment, and Trini's blood runs cold, "Just like you let _me_ down."

 

* * *

 

Gasping, Trini bolts awake in bed, her heart pounding. She rubs a hand over her face and stares across her room at the yellow wall that isn't newly painted but still recent enough for it to look like it doesn't quite fit with the rest of her room. She stares at it, eyes running over the faint outlines of the drawings her brothers had done until her brain settles with the fact that she's in the present, not three or, even, two years ago.

Trini gets out of bed, slowly, holding onto her bedside table for support. She picks up her phone from her bedside table and checks the time. Only five sharp. It's so early her alarm isn't anywhere close to ringing yet. Swallowing, she grabs a jacket from her closet, yellow because she carries Summer around with her everywhere, and finds her shoes, slipping her feet into them. Her phone vibrates in her hand, and she looks at it, squinting in the darkness of her room at Jason's text.

_[JS 5:02 AM] hey are you ok_

_[JS 5:02 AM] i just had a bad dream are you ok_

_[T 5:02 AM] wtf do i have to do with ur bad dreams_

_[JS 5:03 AM] trini_

_[T 5:03 AM] jason_

_[JS 5:03 AM] :/_

_[T 5:03 AM] :/_

_[JS 5:03 AM] i'm coming over you can punch me idc_

"What?" she whispers to herself right before a red flash brightly lights up her room. The moment Jason, still in his pajamas, is visible, Trini reaches over and punches him in the arm.

"Ow!" he says, remembering to lower his voice, and clutches at his arm.

"You _said_ I could punch you," she states, raising her eyebrows.

He frowns at her. "I didn't think you'd take me seriously." Jason stares at her a little longer. "Are you okay?"

"Forget it." Trini fidgets with her jacket and checks that her bedroom door is still locked.

Jason reaches out for her but pulls his hand back at the last moment. It's still enough to get her attention. "Wait, where are you going?"

"A walk," she mutters.

"Can I come with?"

 

* * *

 

A yellow flash briefly illuminates the clearing of the gully. Trini and Jason appear, Jason letting go of Trini's jacket the moment his bare feet touch the ground. She glances at his pajamas. "Sorry, should've told you to bring shoes or something."

"No, it's fine," Jason says, rubbing his arms. It's a little chilly out. She'd offer him her jacket, but there's a very, very unlikely chance of it fitting or helping him any bit. "Why… we were here last night."

"I know," she responds, shoving her hands into her jacket and walking. Gravel and dirt crunches underneath her shoes. Jason's footsteps hesitantly following her are lighter, pretty much inaudible to human ears since he's not wearing shoes, but Trini isn't exactly just human. It's still somewhat dark outside, the sky starting to brighten up just a little as it gets closer and closer to sunrise. Trini glances around the clearing. She hadn't seen the other Rangers defeat Page, but it doesn't even look like there was a battle here. Then again, nobody had a gun or anything that could really leave some visible markings.

As she looks around, something catches her eye, not blending in well with the environment surrounding it. Trini walks over and bends down, picking up a metal helmet. Hm. Looks like it was that knight's, but his body's gone. There's a dent on the side of the helmet, almost like a handprint, but Trini doesn't remember landing a hit that close to Page's helmet. Maybe one of the others had done it after she'd been whisked away.

"Is that…" Jason reaches for the helmet, turning it over in his hands when Trini gives it to him. "Wow, I didn't even see this last night."

"Lucky us," Trini says, "Souvenir. Maybe we'll get Alpha to start a trophy room in the ship."

Jason raises his eyebrows, "That makes it sound like there'll be more."

Trini shrugs and shoves her hands in her pockets. "You heard Rita. There's always more."

Peering into the helmet, Jason makes a move to try and put it on his head then apparently thinks better of it when he catches Trini staring at him. "You know, I heard something else, too," he says, casually, "Something about…"

Trini holds her breath.

"Harwood," he finishes.

She stiffens and turns on her heel, walking away. Not that there's anywhere to really walk to. They're both standing in the same clearing.

"Trini, wait." She uselessly quickens her pace, and Jason jogs to catch up with her. "I just wanna understand. That knight -- he said that the _Power Rangers_ saved Harwood. And that you're worried that it'll be your fault if Angel Grove burns--"

"Stop talking," she snaps, facing him.

Jason flinches and glances down at the helmet in his hands then gives it back to her. "I just wanna know if there's something the rest of us should be worried about or, I don't know, we're… a team."

Trini runs her thumb along the edge of the helmet. Now that it's in her hands, it feels like some kind of prop or replica. An expensive one, probably, since it's got some weight to it, but not like a _real_ piece of armor. Those blows had sure as hell felt real last night, though. Odd.

"Sorry. I know we're a team," she says, shaking her head, "But it's not something I… really wanna get into right now. Zack's already asked me about it, and I told him he could Google it if he wanted to because it's not like I'm hiding some big secret that the rest of the world doesn't know, and I'm telling you the same thing. It's your choice, but, for me personally, I'm not ready to share."

There's a pause as Jason processes her words then he nods. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah, I respect that. I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable--"

"It's fine, Jay." She holds up the helmet. "I'm gonna drop this off with Alpha or something. I'll see you at school."

"Uh, yeah, alright. See you."

Trini waits until Jason teleports away before tucking the helmet under her arm and pressing the side button on her communicator.

 

* * *

 

Jason rubs the sleep out of his eyes as he teleports back into his bedroom. There aren't any new messages in Power Geeks™ group chat, so he wonders how or why he was the only one who noticed. After checking the time, he sends off a text to Emily.

_[JS 5:21 AM] hey you awake_

_[JS 5:21 AM] change of scenery? run by the docks today? bring a jacket it's chilly_

Tossing his phone onto his bed, Jason heads to the bathroom to wash his feet off. In the hallway, he almost bumps into his dad who, well, reeks.

"Hey," Jason greets, "Just got in?"

"Yeah," Sam says, "Kyle's locking up the boat. Are you about to use the bathroom?"

"Mhm. I'm not showering, though. Going out for a run first."

"By yourself?"

Jason turns around, halfway through the door of the bathroom. "Uh, no, with Emily. You remember her? Emily Jordan? Blonde, British, my height?"

"The… soccer player?"

"Yeah, that's her."

Sam hums, "She hasn't been around lately."

Jason shrugs, "Well, we haven't talked for awhile, and now that half of the guys look at me like I ran over their dog, I need different sports people to hang out with." It comes out sounding more bitter than he intended, so he smiles, apologetically, at his dad. "Sorry."

His dad looks at him for a second then shakes his head. "You're fine. I'm gonna go make breakfast. Just holler when you're done, so I can shower." Sam walks off in the direction of the kitchen.

"Will do." Jason goes and washes his feet in the bathtub, thinking over what Trini had said while he does so. They've all been friends for about a month or so now, but there's no _traditional_ way to define the bond they have. He finds it a little ironic that friendships he's had since freshman year could be broken as fast as what he has with the other Rangers had formed. With that in mind, though, he still only knows so much about his team. Billy is the most honest and open of them all, but even then, he's sure there's something that Billy hasn't told him. Well, maybe.

It's not far-fetched that he doesn't know everything about Trini. After all, she _had_ said that she had never told anyone else about the stuff she'd shared during their first campfire, so it's only natural to assume there's more that she's never told anyone. Or, maybe, has never had anyone to tell it _to._

When he's done, Jason brushes his teeth, puts on some deodorant, and tries to flatten his hair. Not that his hair ever wants to cooperate before he's showered. Whatever. It's going to end up being sweaty after his run, anyway.

"Hey, Dad, you can take a shower now!"

Jason goes back into his room and grabs his phone, opening up the new text message notification on his screen.

_[EJ 5:26 AM] yea sure. i'll head on over. be there in 20._

Gives him a little bit of time to just chill. After another ten minutes of laying in bed and scrolling through all of his social media apps and opening and closing and reopening them as if anything's going to change in the two seconds he wasn't looking, Jason rolls back out of bed and gets dressed, rummaging through his dresser for a pair of track pants and a red, long-sleeved exercise shirt. When he's ready, Jason slips his phone into his pocket, grabs his earbuds, and jogs out the door, waving at his dad as he leaves.

His house is close to the docks, basically down the street, but he figures that Emily is probably going to end up in the parking lot so he might as well meet her there. A short sprint brings him down the stretch to his dad's boat. Jason catches sight of a man moving around on deck and cups his hands around his mouth. "Hey, Kyle!" he shouts.

Kyle stops what he's doing and walks over to stern, giving Jason a wave. "Hey, long time no see! I'd come give you a hug, but I'm gross and… fishy."

Jason laughs, "Yeah, I just ran into my dad at home. He reeked. I'm about to go for a run, anyway."

"D'you have a buddy?"

"Yeah, yeah," Jason waves his hand, "I'm about to go meet up with her."

"Good. There's some sicko on the loose -- you hear about that murder last night?" Kyle asks.

Jason nods and clears his throat. "I did. She was a teacher at my school." Not to mention that he had probably just been down the street when it happened… He takes a deep breath.

"Oh, man, that's rough. Sorry to hear about that." Kyle checks his watch. "Hey, I'll let you get back to your run 'cause I need to finish locking up here, but me, you, and your folks need to go grab some pancakes again sometime soon."

"Yeah, for sure. I've just been… really busy lately." _Being a superhero,_ he finishes.

"Alright, see you, Jason."

"See you around."

 

* * *

 

Kim wakes up to having somehow rolled over in her sleep last night because she definitely had not gone to sleep halfway laying on top of Zack. His arm is unconsciously over her waist, making her half-stuck, so Kim puts a hand on his chest and tries to disentangle herself from his arm. Zack stirs but doesn't open his eyes and grumbles, "What're you doing?"

"Getting off of you," she huffs in response and rolls over onto her back, pinning his arm underneath her.

"Ow." Then, he softly chuckles, "Thought you'd like being on top of me."

"I'm too tired to smack you but imagine I did it." Kim fumbles for her phone on her bedside table and squints against the harsh glare of her phone. "It's only five? What the hell?" Well, that explains why the heck her room is still so dark.

"Maybe something's wrong," Zack mumbles at the same time as Kim hears something coming from downstairs.

"What was that?"

"I said maybe something's--"

Kim shushes him, "No, I heard something." Zack sits up the same time as he does and stares at her. She holds up her hand to stop him from saying anything else and focuses her ears. It's her dad's voice, faint and muffled through the floor but still somewhat audible because he's yelling. That's… not good. It's never good.

"Come on," Kim whispers, getting out of bed. She pads to her door, glad that her floor is finally clear of piles of clothes she hadn't washed yet, and creeps out into the hallway. The master bedroom door is wide open and the lights are on downstairs, so her dad is definitely downstairs. She feels Zack come up behind her as she edges closer to the stairwell, her hand on the railing. Now that she's out of her room, she can hear her dad's voice more clearly. He's talking on the phone with someone pretty angrily.

"--has a boyfriend. Did you even know that?"

Kim furrows her brow and glances at Zack who just shrugs.

"No because you're not even home!"

A weight drops into the pit of her stomach, and Kim freezes. "My mom," she whispers in realization, "He's talking to my mom."

Zack's hand is on her arm, and he tries to tug on the sleeve of her pajama shirt. "Come on, Kim, we should go back to bed," he murmurs, voice a little strained, "There's still a ton of time before we have to get up."

"No, no," she shakes his hand off, "I wanna hear this."

"Kim--"

She shushes him and quietly goes down a few steps. There's a part of the wall that extends and keeps the staircase hidden from view from the kitchen, so Kim presses herself close to it, tilting her head to listen.

"Oh, don't be like that," her dad snaps, "I at least sat down with them for dinner. The night _after_ you left."

Something makes her want to keep going down the steps. Kim doesn't know what she'll do when she gets down there, to the last step, staring at her dad probably in his work clothes, still dressed in her pajamas. Him holding his phone, yelling at her mom who's probably shouting right back.

She tells herself that she'll think of something to say, something good and worthwhile, but then Zack's arm is suddenly around her waist, lifting her up and carrying her backwards. Kim almost yelps in surprise, but his free hand quickly clamps over her mouth. Hastily but silently, he half-carries, half-drags her back to her bedroom, closing the door and locking it after he lets go of her on the bed.

"What are you _doing?_ " she hisses as he stands in front of the door, spreading his arms out like a goalie.

"Protecting you," Zack replies, firmly, but presses his back against the door when Kim scowls and takes a step toward him.

"I have a right to listen. They're my parents," she says, "Let me through."

"Yeah, but it's hurting you," he protests, "And I'm not letting you do that to yourself."

Kim throws her hands up in the air. "Look at me. Do I look like I'm hurting? Huh? Do you _feel_ me hurting?"

There's a pause and then Zack fumbles for the light switch and turns the lights on. He peers at Kim for a moment. "Uh, well, no."

"Then let me _through,_ Zachary. I'll kick you through that door if I have to."

He frowns at that but keeps his shoulders squared. "Kim, please don't do this to yourself," he pleads, softly.

Kim falters for a second, and Zack leaves his post at the door and wraps her up in a hug, his arms comforting but firm enough that if she wants to break away she'd actually have to try. Sighing, she relents and relaxes into his touch. "I'm sorry," she mumbles into his shoulder.

"It's okay." He kisses the top of her head and rubs small circles against her back with his thumb. "You're okay."

 

* * *

 

When Rocky knocks on the door to Adam's house, he hears an exaggeratedly loud groan from inside. Adam's definitely awake. A moment later, the door swings open, and Adam, with noticeable bedhead, glares at him.

"I hate you," Adam mutters but steps aside to let Rocky in, "Where's your stuff?"

"No, you don't," Rocky says, grinning as he enters the house, "And it's in my trunk. I'm just here to say hi then I gotta get to school." He waves at Kimberly and Tommy in the kitchen. Kimberly waves back while Tommy just sighs.

"Alright, well, when you get settled in later, you can take the couch," Adam says.

"Uh… yeah, sure," Rocky says, slowly.

Adam stares at him. "What?"

"Nothing! Nothing. I just… have a surprise for you guys." He forces a smile that Adam suspiciously squints at. Lauren had already left to… do whatever it is she had to do and had asked Rocky to not say anything yet since she was… well, afraid isn't the right word to use. But, Lauren's exact words had been something like _Kimberly's going to get worried if she knows I'm in town_ and that sounded like fair enough reasoning.

"What kind of surprise?" Adam asks.

"A good one, obviously." Rocky tries to pat down the tuft of hair that's sticking up on Adam's head. It doesn't stay down. "Alright, I'm off."

"Wait, wait, how are you sure the school's gonna just randomly let you in?" Kimberly raises her eyebrows, "They probably already have a substitute who can fill the spot for awhile, and you haven't gone through a background check or anything yet."

Tommy scoffs into his coffee mug, "Come on, Kim. Everyone knows the American school system is garbage."

Rocky snaps his fingers and shoots a finger gun at Kimberly, "He's absolutely right. I mean, wasn't your boss at Reefside evil?"

"Yep."

"That's… not supposed to be a _good_ justification," Kimberly sighs, "Fine. Sure. Whatever. Go have fun at school."

 

* * *

 

Lauren taps the tiny microphone as she clips it underneath the collar of her blazer. She had had Rocky drop her off near the Angel Grove Sheriff's Station, grabbed what she needed out of his trunk and left her luggage for later, and gone on her way. Ducking into the restroom of the nearest coffee shop she could find, she'd then gotten herself ready. The sooner she got her foot in the door, the better. "Can you guys hear me?"

 _"Unfortunately,"_ comes an exasperated reply into her earpiece, followed by what sounds like the sipping of coffee.

"Should change your tone, Cam," Lauren says, "You're in this for the long haul."

 _"I really wish I wasn't,"_ he mutters.

She's gonna have to get used to Cam and Hayley's voices in her ear all the time.

 _"Your earpiece and mic check out,"_ Hayley reports, _"You've got the camera fixed? I'm about to turn the feed on."_

"Yeah, yeah," Lauren says as she faces the restroom mirror and adjusts the knot of her red tie, making sure not to dislodge the camera hiding just under it, "Looks clear?"

_"Mhm. You look nice. Convincing."_

"Good. I feel terrible."

_"You… don't have to do this, Lauren."_

"Well," she sighs, pushing open the door to the restroom, "If I don't, who will?"

When Lauren steps outside of the coffee shop, she stops, eyeing the sheriff's station across the street. "I need a gun," she states, abruptly.

 _"Would you… like one?"_ Hayley asks.

"Not particularly, but I need one."

_"Alright, gimme a sec. Just wait there and try to look natural."_

Immediately, Lauren doesn't know what to do with her hands and clasps them together.

 _"You don't like guns?"_ Cam asks. He takes another sip of coffee, which is definitely making her thirsty, but the shop she had just walked out of was _way_ overpriced.

Lauren scoffs under her breath and lowers her voice as someone walks past her on the sidewalk. "I'm a Power Ranger. Doesn't it come with the job?"

_"Not really. We use… guns. Sort of."_

"Blasters are different. Lasers don't make people bleed -- they make monsters explode."

She can practically hear Cam roll his eyes. _"Well, if you shoot someone with a laser, I'm sure they'll explode, too."_

Hayley interrupts, _"Am I going to have to listen to you two bicker this entire time?"_

Lauren shrugs even though Cam and Hayley can't see her. "Friendly banter with the in-laws is healthy."

 _"You're not even married yet,"_ Cam counters, _"And I'm Mia's cousin."_

"Still makes you an in-law."

Hayley chuckles, _"She might not_ **_get_ ** _to be married after this once Mia finds out."_

Swallowing the feeling of guilt that rises in her throat, Lauren says nothing to that as she remembers to take off her engagement ring and tuck it into her pocket. She'd find a chain for it later. "How's the gun coming along?"

 _"You make it sound like I'm 3D printing it,"_ Hayley says. Faintly, there's the sound of a drawer being loudly yanked open.

"Uh, I don't know what you _are_ doing."

_"Getting you a gun. Hold your jacket open. Right side."_

"Um, okay." Lauren holds her blazer open. "What am I waiting--" The air shimmers, and a sudden weight appears on her belt as a holster and handgun materialize in place. "Holy shit."

_"You're welcome."_

"Thanks. Is this… real?"

 _"She's really bad at being grateful,"_ Cam tells Hayley, _"Just so you know."_

"I didn't ask you, Cam," Lauren huffs then asks Hayley, "Can you teleport me a smoothie?"

_"No, you just walked out of a coffee shop. And, yes, it's real. It's a couple of years old, but there's a government-registered serial number attached to it. I just have to make a couple of changes… What's your name?"_

Lauren starts walking across the street, checking both sides of the road as she crosses. It's still early out, the sky barely lightening, and there's still officers arriving to work and some leaving from the night shift. Lauren tries to look like she belongs as she weaves between rows of marked cars in the lot. "Ada King, 1991, Boston, 5'3", 156 pounds."

 _"You had that ready,"_ Cam comments, almost sounding impressed.

 _"She got that name from a TV show,"_ Hayley says, teasingly.

Lauren rolls her eyes. "I did _not,_ " she lies, "I had a whole car ride over here to think about it while I was brushing up on my Angel Grove knowledge."

_"Uh-huh. Same birthday?"_

"No, different one, doesn't matter which one," Lauren answers as she pulls open the door to the sheriff's station, "Alright, I'm going radio silent."

She's never been in any kind of police or sheriff's station before but it looks about as small as it does on the outside. There's a receptionist desk in entrance waiting area, so Lauren approaches the woman behind the desk who's nursing a cup of coffee. Her desk plaque says her name is Hannah Hutchinson. "Hi, uh, Hannah, I'm Special Agent King with the FBI. I need to talk to Chief Colton about a murder that occurred last night." Lauren nudges her blazer aside to show the badge clipped on the left side of her belt when Hannah raises her eyebrows.

"Okay," Hannah responds, pressing a button on her desk phone, "Just take a seat, and I'll let him know you're here."

Lauren takes a seat at one of the benches along the wall, pulling her phone out to appear busy. Her screen, when she unlocks it, is still pulled up to the text that she had received from Mia while driving to Angel Grove with Rocky. The text that she had ignored.

_[MW 5:26 AM] miss you already. stay safe <3 _

_"What do you plan on telling Colton for why there's an FBI agent investigating a murder that_ **_just_ ** _happened last night?"_ Hayley asks.

 _"What'd you tell Mia?"_ Cam questions, sternly.

_"Don't read her texts!"_

_"She shouldn't have put the camera_ **_I_ ** _gave her on her tie, then. Are you gonna answer_ **_my_ ** _cousin?"_

Lauren answers Hayley, instead, keeping her voice low. "I was gonna say the Bureau sent me ahead of time to see if this is related to some cold case or something."

_"Don't ignore me, Lauren."_

"You know, Terry doesn't get on me like this."

 _"Because Terry's her_ **_little_ ** _brother, and I'm her_ **_older_ ** _cousin."_

Lauren sighs and murmurs as she types out a response, "I told her that I was taking some time off."

_[LS 6:07 AM] Miss you, too. <3 _

_"'Taking some time off'? She's gonna think you're getting cold feet,"_ Cam sighs, sounding more accusatory than Lauren would like. Although, he's probably right.

"Stay out of my love life, _Cameron._ A little help here, Hayley?"

_"Nope, I'm not the one engaged into his family."_

Lauren's phone buzzes with a new message.

_[MW 6:07 AM] where are you?_

_[LS 6:07 AM] Reefside. Visiting Hayley._

_"Hey! Don't get me involved."_

_"What was that about not reading her texts?"_

_"They're… right there."_

Lauren huffs and puts her phone away, ignoring both Cam and Hayley, just as footsteps approach her seat. She stands as a gruff-looking, dark-haired man holds his hand out to her.

"Chief Colton," he introduces himself, "I hear you're with the Bureau."

She shakes his hand. "Yeah, I am. Special Agent King. The murder that occurred last night -- the Bureau sent me because it bears some similarities to a cold case of ours. The details, however, are classified. I'm sure you understand."

Colton raises his eyebrows. "If they're related, would the jurisdiction fall to you?"

Lauren puts on her best smile. "It's _your_ case. I'm hoping we could come to a compromise, I work with whoever you've already got on the case, and… maybe it's _not_ related."

"Hm." Lauren stands still as Colton scrutinizes her. "Alright, walk with me." She follows Colton further into the station.

 _"Did Mia teach you how to turn on the charm like that?"_ Cam asks, wryly.

Lauren says nothing but taps where the microphone is clipped underneath her collar. Cam grumbles at the feedback.

Colton leads her to a desk where an officer sits, staring intently at some paperwork, and looks up as they approach. Lauren glances at his desk plaque: Garrett Larsen. "Special Agent King," Colton says, "This is Corporal Larsen. He's assigned to the Bhavani case."

Garrett furrows his brow and worriedly glances at Lauren. "Are the feds taking over the case?" he asks.

"No, we're not," Lauren reassures, quickly, "I just wanna work with you. This might be related to a cold case at the Bureau, it might not be."

"Take her to the crime scene," Colton orders, "And she gets access to our resources and files-- well, there's only one file on the case right now."

"Understood, sir."

"Pleasure to meet you, Agent King. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some work to get back to. Disgruntled parents of teens, things like that."

"Pleasure to meet you as well, Chief." Lauren turns to Garrett as Colton goes back to his office. "Disgruntled parents of teens?"

Garrett huffs and rolls his eyes. "I booked some kids at a party last night and their parents are complaining about their children being manhandled and coming away with lifelong trauma."

"Sounds like they've got some… attitude."

Cam groans in her ear, _"You think you're funny, don't you?"_ To Lauren's credit, Hayley giggles a little, so, yes, she thinks she's hilarious.

"Sure do. Can I get you a coffee or anything?"

Lauren glances around the station and quickly spots the break room. "No," she declines, "I can get it myself."

Garrett grabs the coffee cup on his desk and shakes it. "Yeah, I actually need to refill mine, so I'll come with you."

The break room has a tiny kitchen countertop with a fridge and microwave, two vending machines against the wall -- one for drinks and one for snacks -- and a table for coffee next to the door. As Lauren walks in, she takes in snapshots of the room, making her way to the coffee table and pouring herself a cup. A red couch in the corner, heavily worn, photographs on the far wall underneath pinned up letters spelling out _HAP Y BI THDAY._ The missing P and R sit on top of the microwave.

"So, how long have you been with the Bureau, Agent King?" Garrett asks, handing her a lid.

Lauren seals her cup without adding any cream or sugar. Wakes her up better. "About four years, not counting the Academy. And you can call me Ada."

"Ada, huh? I grew up near a city with that name in Oklahoma." Lauren watches as Garrett refills his cup with coffee and adds two creams and a sugar packet.

"Small town country boy," she comments, "What made you move to Cali?"

Garrett chuckles, "Exactly because I was a small town country boy. What about you?"

"Boston," Lauren answers; she's never been.

"Ah, city girl."

"Yeah," Lauren fakes a chuckle, "Can't take it out of me."

"Well, I hope you like Angel Grove while you're here. We've got city and small town all jumbled together." He jerks his thumb in the direction of the rest of the station. "I'm gonna go make some copies of what I have on the Bhavani case for you, and then we can go take a look at the crime scene, sound good? Did you drive here?"

Lauren shakes her head. "I have a rental, but I walked here to get a feel for things, you know?"

Garrett nods. "Yeah, I get you. Alright, you can ride with me, then."

The moment he leaves, both Cam and Hayley's voices drift through her earpiece.

 _"You do_ **_not_ ** _have a rental car,"_ Cam says, irritatedly, first.

"That doesn't sound like my problem," Lauren responds, flatly.

_"I'm gonna find you a Nissan Cube--"_

"Don't you dare."

_"Beggars can't be choosers, Lauren."_

_"Might I add,"_ Hayley says, _"Lauren, I know_ **_I'm_ ** _gay and I know_ **_you're_ ** _gay so this might seem like a dumb question to ask, but were you_ **_flirting_ ** _with him?"_

Lauren slowly takes a sip of her coffee. It's still hot to the touch, but that hardly bothers her. "I wasn't _flirting,_ " she mutters, "But if he takes it that way and falls prey to my natural Red charm, then I can't help how easy and gullible men are."

 _"'City girl',"_ Hayley repeats, taking on a higher pitch that Lauren figures is meant to be a dig at her, _"'Can't take it out of me'?"_

 _"Is this 'natural Red charm' the same thing that had you ignoring Mia for months after you guys ended up_ **_not_ ** _kissing under a mistletoe at your first reunion?"_ Cam questions.

"Both of you can shut up," Lauren huffs, "Besides, if I wasn't gay beyond words and were to ever show interest in a guy, I have a list."

 _"And?"_ Hayley prods, curiously.

"It starts with Kevin."

_"And…"_

"Ends with Kevin."

_"That's fair."_

She takes her cup and sits down at the chair next to Garrett's desk and patiently waits for him to come back. Her phone buzzes in her pocket, but she doesn't bother taking it out. It'll just be another text she doesn't want to see that'll make her feel even guiltier. So, Lauren just stares at the lid of her coffee cup and listens to the sounds of faint breathing from Cam and Hayley and the menial desk work being done around her.

Garrett returns shortly with a manilla folder in his hands and gives it to her. "Here, some reading for the road. Ready to go?"

Lauren tucks the folder under her arm and gets up. "Yeah, absolutely."

 

* * *

 

Getting into the school had been easy enough. Too easy, really, if Rocky had anything to say about it. He could understand that public education in America was severely understaffed, underfunded, and underappreciated, but also, it should’ve been a lot harder for him to fill in as a substitute in an hour flat when AGHS already has substitutes. Thankfully, he does have the credentials and he _is_ trustworthy, but still. Security could be better. Who knows who else could get into the school if he can?

A knock on the door distracts Rocky from his thoughts, and he frantically checks the clock on the wall, breathing out a sigh of relief when he sees that it’s not time for first period yet. Well, that, and the bell hasn’t loudly rung.

Getting up from his desk, now, he goes over and opens the door up, smiling at the man on the other side. “Um, hello.”

“Hi,” the man greets holding out his hand; Rocky shakes it with his normal amount of enthusiasm, “Edward Jordan over in C hall. I just wanted to drop by and see who was here.”

“Well, I’m Rocky, and you are…”

“A friend of Vivian’s,” Edward elaborates.

“Oh, um, I’m sorry for your loss,” Rocky murmurs, stepping aside to let Edward in, “It’s really tragic.”

“Yeah,” Edward sighs and leans against one of the desks, crossing his arms and glancing around the classroom, deep in thought.

Rocky lets him be because it just would be awkward to say or do anything else. Something nags at him as he watches Edward stare at the blackboard, and he can’t help but voice it aloud. “Have we met before? I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere,” he asks, curiously.

Edward rubs a hand over his chin and chuckles then stands and vaguely gestures to two framed photographs on his -- but still Vivian’s -- desk. “Well, I’m in both of those, so that’s probably what you’re thinking of.”

“Right.” Rocky still stares at Edward for a moment longer, not feeling like that’s it. But, then again, it probably is it. He hadn’t taken a closer look at anything around the classroom out of respect for Vivian being, well, dead, so any glances he had had at those photographs had been too quick to fully register anything.

“It was nice meeting you, Rocky,” Edward says, patting him on the shoulder, “But I’ve gotta get some stuff ready before first period, and I’m sure you do, too.”

“Oh, definitely,” Rocky says, nervously chuckling, “It’ll be… interesting.”

“Good luck with that, man. Hey, since you have Viv’s schedule, if you want to join me for lunch later, I’m in C117.”

Rocky nods. “Thanks. I might, but I do have a ton of stuff to sort through here, so… probably gonna turn into a rain check.”

“Yeah, yeah, no worries.” Edward gives him a thumbs up as he leaves.

 

* * *

 

When Garrett pulls up to 2889 Lakewood Court, Lauren takes a deep breath as she gets out of the car. No matter what, she's committing after this point. Technically, she already committed the moment she first told that receptionist that she's an FBI agent or, going back even further, when she sort of forced -- _persuaded_ \-- Cam and Hayley to help her out. Or maybe when Kimberly sent that message in the Ranger Skype group and the first thought in her head was _That looks like something I can unnecessarily get involved in_ like a classic Red Ranger would.

She tucks the file Garrett had given her under her arm and shuts the car door as Garrett comes around to the sidewalk.

"Body's at the coroner's right now," he says, "Although I'm not sure if the autopsy report is gonna say anything useful, anyway, besides all the ways the, uh, victim _didn't_ die."

"Yeah, no entry wounds or external bruising," Lauren recites, finding some comfort in repeating the facts that she's already read, "No signs of a struggle." It makes her more confident in the facade that she's actually here on an investigation and not… her blindly fumbling around not knowing what she's doing.

"Just letting y'know before we go in there," Garrett says as he ducks under the yellow crime scene tape and walks up the driveway to the front door, "It's still intense. You got gloves? I've got an extra pair if you're not allergic." He pats his jacket pocket.

"Yeah, I have gloves. And don't worry -- I've seen some intense things," she says, following him, even though she really hasn't. It's what Ada King would say, but Lauren Shiba's life only began a short four years ago and in that time, she's only seen monsters for the briefest of periods. Beyond that, she's never seen someone die or even been to a funeral. Mourned for the loss of her father while in isolation, yes. Seen his dead body? She probably wouldn't be able to cope if she ever did.

The door to the house is unlocked, and Garrett opens it, letting Lauren walk in first. As she walks in, she reaches into her pocket and pulls out a pair of leather gloves she'd thankfully remembered to pack. She's already pretending to be someone she's not; having her fingerprints all over a crime scene would be… less than ideal. The blinds to the living room are closed, so Lauren finds the light switch on the nearest wall and flips it on.

She stops as the light illuminates the far opposite wall, both taking it in for herself, her stomach dropping at the sight, and letting Cam and Hayley take it in as well through their window on her tie.

 _"Holy shit,"_ Hayley says.

"'Consider this a sign of things to come'," Lauren reads, her brow furrowing, "A sign of… what, exactly? What things?"

Garrett shrugs, not looking at the wall like she is. "Bad things, I guess."

 _"Are you sure his rank isn't Captain Obvious?"_ Cam mutters. Lauren bites the inside of her cheek and tells herself not to just be equally as snarky back out loud. It'd make her look suspicious. Or crazy. Both.

Lauren stares at the wall for a moment longer. Red is her color, but the way it looks darkly smeared on the wall is sickening. She tears her eyes away, taking a deep breath to compose herself. Garrett doesn't look like he's doing so hot, either; she catches him intensely staring at some indistinct spot on the carpet.

"Is the blood…" she asks, quietly, watching his face very closely as she talks, "Is it the victim's? Do we know?"

He swallows before answering. "No, uh, it's not hers. Like we said, no entry wounds, not even for… that. Could be animal blood or something."

"Garrett."

"Hm?" He looks up at her, waiting for her to say something else.

"You knew her." It's not a question.

He falters for a second, his mouth slightly falling open, then sighs, heavily. "Yeah, I-I did. We met when she moved here and went out for lunch a couple of times."

She almost asks _Do you need to be taken off this case?_ but stops herself before she does because it's much too cold and hardhearted. Whether or he's fit to be working the case is probably a matter that would've been addressed with Sheriff Bowen or Chief Colton, not her. "You can step outside," she says, softly, instead, "If you need to."

Garrett shakes his head. "No, I'm fine. Really."

"Okay," Lauren says when Garrett looks like he's composed himself, "Walk me through what happened."

"We got an anonymous tip at the station about this address around… 8:30, I think, last night about possibly hearing a woman screaming. So, me and the chief went to check it out. Door was unlocked when we came, and…" He gestures at the bloodied wall. "Yeah."

Lauren asks, walking over to the front door and opening it. No signs of being broken in. Checks out. She closes the door. It loudly squeaks, and she frowns. "This was after you busted that party?"

"Yeah, about half an hour after. Down the street, actually. Blood was already dry when we got here, and without a cause of death, there's not really any way to tell how long the, uh, victim was dead."

"Okay," Lauren murmurs, glancing around the room. There's a laundry hamper sitting next to the couch, clean clothes still filled to the brim on the inside. A flatscreen TV hangs above the fireplace mantel, and a collection of historical replicas sits on the hearth. Lauren had already seen the crime scene photos, but now that she's in the house, she can investigate the scene better.

Walking down the hallway, Lauren peeks into the small, cramped laundry room, glancing around. The washer is empty, the lid open and waiting, so she checks the dryer. The door creaks as she opens it and looks inside. "Clothes are still in the dryer," she calls out, even though Garrett already knows, "She was in the middle of doing laundry." Lauren closes the dryer door, and that's when she spots the scuff marks on the tiled floor right next to edge of the dryer. "Hey, Garrett, come take a look at this."

Garrett pokes his head in the doorway. "What's up?"

"There's scuff marks here."

He shrugs. "Maybe from when it was installed?"

Lauren glances at the washer but finds no complementary scuff marks. He's probably right, but she's learned to trust her intuition more often than not. It _is_ enhanced, after all. Regardless of if it's important or not, though, Lauren tucks the information away in her head.

Continuing on, she passes by a guest bathroom and a cozy home office, Garrett quietly trailing behind her, keeping silent probably because he doesn't want to interrupt her process. Not that she has one. She enters the home office and approaches the desk pushed against the far wall next to the one window, absently glancing through the papers scattered on the surface. The best way to figure out who someone is -- looking at their desk. A gas station receipt for a Cherry Coke and a bag of Hot Cheetos, scanned copies of a manuscript that she can recognize a couple of words of but not the full thing in Latin, the calendar for school district holidays, a 20% off coupon for Barnes & Noble that expired last week.

Lauren diverts her attention to the corkboard hanging over the desk. A range of pictures and mementos are pinned up by thumbtacks -- a flyer for Angel Grove High's fourteenth Renaissance festival dated back to two years ago, an invitation to Lana Perez's bridal shower last year, plenty of laminated concert tickets like Ed Sheeran, Echosmith, and Kira Ford.

 _"Huh, she's a fan of Kira's,"_ Hayley comments, _"That's so sad."_

Underneath the stub for Kira's concert that's dated to about a month ago is a phone number written on a napkin from Starbucks. The ink is fairly faded, but she can still make out the digits. Lauren unpins it from the board and holds it up to Garrett. "Let's see where this leads."

He stops her as she reaches for her phone. "There's no need, Agent King-- that's… my phone number."

Lauren raises her eyebrows and asks, quietly, "Are you _sure_ you're okay to be on this case?" Garrett opens his mouth, but she continues. "Take a moment to think about your answer, please."

He does. "I promise I'm good to work this case, ma'am."

Lauren pins the napkin back on the board and takes a step back, crossing her arms at him. "I'm gonna ask you some questions, then," she says. It's not a request.

Garrett shrugs. "Go ahead."

"Did you and…" She pauses. "Vivian have a relationship?"

"Not the romantic kind," he answers, shaking his head, "We were just friends."

"Nothing more?"

"We, uh, went on a few dates, but nothing to come out of it."

"Did you _want_ something to come out of it?"

Garrett shrugs again and makes a vague noise of uncertainty in his throat. "I mean… maybe after my brother graduates? It would've been… sorta awkward otherwise."

"Your brother is-- was one of her students?"

"Yeah, Brady Larsen. He's a senior. I'm not entirely sure we would've worked out, anyway. Our personalities were too different. She was more out there… I'm not."

"So, she was single?"

"Yeah."

And from what Lauren had read in the file Garrett had given her, Vivian was estranged from her parents who still lived in Boston, so estranged in fact that she’d gone as far as to change her entire name. "It's not a lot to work off of," Lauren murmurs, looking back at the corkboard. There's a bunch of photographs but no indication of how recent they are or aren't. "Can you tell me anything about these photos?"

Garrett approaches the desk. "Uh, some of them. The ones where she has shorter hair, that's from before she moved here."

"Two years ago, right?"

"Right." Garrett points at a group photo of Vivian and some other people in front of a gigantic, elegant fountain. Lauren recognizes it as the Trevi in Rome. "This was a cruise she went on with some coworkers. Those are the Jordans -- Edward, Rachel, and Emily. That's Joshua Perez and his wife, Lana, and their kid, Tyler. And that's Gabby Park and her… girlfriend? I don't know her name. But, Edward, Lana, and Gabby all work with Viv. Uh, worked."

Glancing over the other photos pinned up, Lauren sees Lana and Gabby the most, especially Lana, which makes sense considering the bridal shower invitation. "Are they all in the same department?" she asks.

"No, not all of them. Gabby is, but Lana teaches math and Edward teaches… English, I think?"

Lauren doesn't see Garrett in any of the photos but decides to ask, anyway. "Were you friends with any of them?"

"Not really. We hung out a couple of times when Viv and I were dating -- you know, going on dates -- but it was more because Viv was a mutual friend."

"Alright, well," Lauren sighs, "I think I'm gonna go ask around the school."

"Now?" Garrett asks, "You might wanna go during lunchtime, you know, to make sure they've got time to talk."

She checks her phone. It's only almost seven. "Yeah, okay. I still need to get to the morgue--" Her stomach cuts her off by loudly rumbling. "And get some breakfast, apparently."

 _"Want me to go get something from McDonald's for you?"_ Cam asks, abruptly, with a chuckle. She ignores him.

"Are you gonna want food before or after fixin' to go to the morgue?" Garrett raises his eyebrows. "Because it depends on how tough your stomach is."

 _"Say 'before',"_ Hayley suggests, _"Trust me, you won't have an appetite after."_

"Uh… before."

"Would you like to get some breakfast together? There's an IHOP not too far from the station."

Lauren nods. "Yeah, sure."

Garrett leaves to start his car, but Lauren lingers inside the room for a moment.

 _"You know,"_ Cam pipes up, _"I honestly can't tell if he's just being nice or legitimately flirting with you."_

"He's being nice," Lauren and Hayley say simultaneously.

_"Okay, but… no offense, you're both gay."_

"He's _just_ being nice," Lauren repeats.

 _"Once again, you_ **_also_ ** _thought Mia was being nice for the longest time. Or do you not remember that?"_

_"He makes a good point."_

Lauren grumbles, "Be quiet." She takes one last look around the room then leaves. There's time to come back later, especially since Garrett had told her that the crime scene would stay active for a few days.

 

* * *

 

As Emily comes home from her run with Jason, her parents are getting ready to leave for work. Or, well, Rachel is dressed and about to leave. Edward is still standing by the kitchen countertop, staring into his coffee mug. Emily hugs her mum goodbye and scrunches her nose when Rachel kisses her on the cheek. " _Mum,_ your lipstick." She rubs at her cheek, frowning.

"Oh, sorry. Hey, remember you're grounded today."

Emily sighs. She'd been lucky that her parents had let her out for a run still. "Yeah, I remember, alright? Wait. For how long? We… never talked about it."

"I haven't decided yet."

Oh, that's even worse. "I do have practice and karate today, though."

"Straight home after both of those," Rachel replies.

"You're lucky you don't have a record," Edward says, "And that _that's_ not going on it."

"Yeah, I'm sure it's luck," Emily mutters. Her mother frowns at her.

Tommie's bedroom door swings open as she pads out into the kitchen, still in a matching Star Wars pyjama set, trying to smooth down her messy hair with one hand. Apparently having caught the end of their conversation, Tommie remarks, " _I_ think it's cool you got arrested."

"Nope," Edward mutters into his mug.

Emily raises her eyebrows. "It is?"

"It most definitely is _not,_ " Rachel counters.

Tommie shrugs as she opens the fridge and grabs the milk carton and pours herself a glass. "I'm _just_ saying. It was a fistfight in defense of someone's honor. I'm all about that."

"You weren't even there," Emily scoffs.

"People have been adding me on Snapchat. Not that I know them, but they've been adding me."

"Violence isn't always the answer," Rachel says while reaching over to wipe off the remnant of lipstick on Emily's cheek with her thumb; Emily grumbles and dodges away, "Have a good day at school, girls."

Tommie fakes a gagging noise and snickers when Edward frowns at her. She waits until Rachel leaves to say: "You know, _I've_ been arrested before."

In fact, Emily _had_ known that. Their dad had shown her what the adoption agency had showed him, but she's not supposed to know, anyway.

"For what?" Emily asks. She finally takes off her shoes and takes a seat at the kitchen island, setting her motorcycle helmet on the countertop.

"Em," Edward says, sternly, "Don't pry."

Tommie waves her hand, nonchalantly. "Nah, it's fine. Uh, after my parents died, you know, I went back into the foster system, and not all of them were as chill as Gwen and Reece. I ended up pulling a knife on a guy who was _meant_ to be my foster dad 'cause he was, um--"

Sensing Tommie's discomfort with voicing this part aloud, Emily interjects, "An asshole."

"Language," Edward murmurs, taking a sip of his coffee.

" _Manyak,_ " Emily amends in Hebrew, which only makes Edward frown even more.

" _Emily._ "

"Sorry."

Tommie amusedly glances between Emily and Edward. "Yeah, anyway, I pulled a knife on him, he called cops, and we both got arrested."

"So, he's in jail now?"

"Um, no." Tommie looks into her glass, avoiding Emily's gaze. "He was for awhile, but he got out, like, a few months ago. I have a restraining order on him. Not that he's gonna come around here, he's in Philly."

Well, she actually hadn't known that. "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." Not knowing what else to say, Emily uses her normal excuse to get out of conversational awkwardness. "Erm, I'm gonna go take a shower."

She goes into her bedroom and throws her exercise clothes into her laundry basket. Emily's in the middle of fumbling with her sports bra when her door swings open. "Hey!" she shouts as Tommie comes in, quickly grabbing her towel and wrapping it around herself, "I'm changing!"

"And?" Tommie closes the door behind her, snorts, and sits down on the edge of Emily's bed, "Hey, I just had a great idea. After you shower, we should skip."

Emily blinks. "You… wanna skip school?"

"Yeah," Tommie says with a grin.

"Uh, why? Are you feeling sick again?"

"Nah, I feel fine."

"In that case," Emily sighs, running a hand through her hair, "I can't. Mum already lets me off on days where I'm, you know, having a depressive episode and I don't wanna abuse that."

Tommie considers that for a moment then declares, "I'm having an episode right now."

"Oh, yeah? Of _what?_ "

"Not giving a shit and wanting to skip school."

Emily scowls.

"Don't give me that look."

"Girls," comes Edward's muffled voice from the hallway as he passes by, "I'm heading to school. See you there."

"See you!" Emily says back.

The alarm beeps as the front door is opened then closed. Tommie smirks at Emily. "Come on, Em. You know skipping alone is _so_ boring. I wanna skip with my _best_ friend and _favorite_ sister. I'll even add in the u because it stands for _you._ "

"Flattery gets you nowhere," Emily mutters, heading into her bathroom, "And I'm your _only_ sister."

"It gets you to skip with me," Tommie calls after her.

 

* * *

 

**_Power Geeks™_ **

_[JS 6:30 AM] who am i picking up today besides billy_

_[JS 6:30 AM] also i'm taking pearl to school so we're gonna drop her off first_

_[BC 6:30 AM] Nice! I like Pearl :)_

_[T 6:30 AM] i like how she roasts u w/ us_

_[JS 6:30 AM] you wanna walk to school?_

_[T 6:30 AM] i CAN… ur threats mean nothing to me white boy_

_[T 6:31 AM] but yeah u can pick me up_

_[KH 6:31 AM] i'm driving zack today_

_[JS 6:31 AM] gross!_

_[KH 6:31 AM] ur gross_

 

* * *

 

Kim had gotten Zack to leave and get his stuff for school and check on his mom with great reluctance then promptly collapsed in bed. She hadn't heard anything more from her dad downstairs and a car had driven off awhile ago, so he was probably gone. Her phone buzzes, and Kim groans, rolling over onto her side and fumbling for her phone somewhere in her sheets.

**_Angel Grove One-Seven_ **

_[TO 6:36 AM] me and em aren't going to school today_

_[BC 6:36 AM] Oh, no! Are you okay?_

_[TO 6:36 AM] yea lol we're just skipping_

_[EJ 6:36 AM] amfmdfsjfgkflsd i was in the shower!!! i didn't even agree to this_

_[TO 6:37 AM] too bad i'm kidnapping you_

_[EJ 6:37 AM] fight me_

Immediately, Kim gets an idea and texts Zack.

_[KH 6:37 AM] if i skipped to hang out with emily and tommie, would you come with me?_

_[ZT 6:37 AM] wow… idk probs_

_[KH 6:37 AM] yay <3 _

"Nice," Kim murmurs to herself as she starts up a new group chat.

 **_Kimberly Hart_ ** _added_ **_Zack Taylor, Tommie Oliver,_ ** _and_ **_Emily Jordan_ ** _to a group._

 **_Kimberly Hart_ ** _named the group:_ **_"fuck school, get lit."_ **

_[EJ 6:39 AM] edgy_

_[EJ 6:39 AM] what's this_

_[KH 6:39 AM] zack and i are skipping too lmao_

_[KH 6:39 AM] wanna hang?_

_[TO 6:40 AM] what u got in mind bc i was gonna play video games all day lol_

_[EJ 6:40 AM] ur so HEcking resPonsible_

_[TO 6:40 AM] HEP?_

_[EJ 6:40 AM] help :/_

_[EJ 6:40 AM] i'm being kidnapped_

_[ZT 6:41 AM] i have 1 idea_

_[TO 6:41 AM] is it fun_

_[ZT 6:41 AM] u will toot ur horn @ how fun it is_

_[TO 6:41 AM] wh_

_[TO 6:41 AM] what_

Kim gets the wordplay immediately and bolts up in bed. "Oh, Zack, _no,_ " she groans.

_[KH 6:42 AM] he wants to go train surfing :/_

_[ZT 6:42 AM] SPOILERS KIMOTHY_

_[EJ 6:42 AM] amdfgjdkgs_

**_Emily Jordan_ ** _changed the group's name to_ **_"kimothy and the outlaws."_ **

_[KH 6:42 AM] :/_

_[TO 6:43 AM] oh sweet like red hood and the outlaws_

_[EJ 6:43 AM] who_

_[TO 6:43 AM] disappointing_

_[TO 6:43 AM] anyway i've never train surfed but seems cool?_

_[TO 6:44 AM] how high is the possibility of me dying_

_[ZT 6:44 AM] not high ur w/ a pro_

_[KH 6:44 AM] he is NOT a pro_

_[ZT 6:45 AM] i have a yt channel my subscribers must b wondering when ill come back from war_

_[EJ 6:45 AM] what if you trip and fall off of a really fast train :/_

_[TO 6:45 AM] nice_

_[TO 6:45 AM] i'm in! i love danger_

_[EJ 6:45 AM] that's concerning_

_[KH 6:46 AM] okay so i can pick everyone up? or do you wanna take your bike em_

_[TO 6:46 AM] ur gonna pick ME up and she can do whatever she wants bc i hate her driving_

_[EJ 6:46 AM] did you die_

_[TO 6:46 AM] yes_

_[TO 6:46 AM] motorcycles are slightly terrifying_

_[EJ 6:46 AM] and you wanna go TRAIN SURFING ok_

_[EJ 6:47 AM] i guess u can pick us all up since i have to go and make sure my dumb sister doesn't die_

_[TO 6:47 AM] :D_

_[TO 6:47 AM] its not kidnapping if she agrees to it_

_[EJ 6:48 AM] u worry me a lot_

_[KH 6:49 AM] how does uhhh 7:45/8ish sound because i don't wanna get out of bed yet_

_[TO 6:49 AM] u do realize that 7:45 is not the same as 8 right? like i can spend those extra 15 laying down_

_[KH 6:49 AM] fine…… 8_

_[ZT 6:49 AM] ok i have a follow-up idea to train surfing but its a Surprise, every1 choose a color_

_[TO 6:49 AM] why_

_[TO 6:50 AM] green_

_[TO 6:50 AM] but why_

_[ZT 6:50 AM] i said its a surprise cant u read_

_[TO 6:50 AM] no my name’s jared_

_[EJ 6:50 AM] orange_

_[KH 6:51 AM] pink!!!_

_[ZT 6:51 AM] ok thx_

 

* * *

 

Billy checks through his backpack again as his mom is bustling around the kitchen, putting their plates from breakfast into the sink. All his notebooks and binders, his copy of Romeo and Juliet since Mr. Jordan had said to bring it today for the start of the unit, pens, highlighters, and the new colored pencil kit Trini had bought him two weeks ago.

"Hey, sweetie," his mom is saying, "What time are you going to be home tonight?"

Oh, right, his sketchbook. No point in bringing his colored pencils if he doesn't have anything to use them on, right? "Uh, I'm not sure," Billy calls out as he scrambles downstairs to his bedroom. His colored pencils are right where he left them last night, and he grabs them as well as another little wind-up toy he's been working on since he'd given the previous one away last night. Rushing back upstairs, Billy puts the sketchbook and toy into his backpack and looks at his mom. "Why?"

"I was going to have Paul and some of the others from church over for dinner tonight," Candace explains, "I'd like for you to be there, but it's okay if you had other plans."

Furrowing his brow, Billy quickly shakes his head. "No, no, I'll absolutely be there. What time?"

"Eight tonight. I'm going to try to be home by four instead of five and start getting things prepared."

Billy nods. "Yeah, I'll be there." He'll have to check with the others about moving the campfire up earlier, but they'll understand. His phone buzzes in his pocket, and he slips it out, glancing at it.

_[JS 6:43 AM] i'm here_

"Jason's here," Billy says, giving his mom a really quick hug, "I gotta go, but I'm excited for dinner tonight."

"Thanks, sweetie. Have a good day at school."

Closing the front door behind him as he leaves, Billy gets into the backseat of Jason's truck. "Hey, morning," he greets Pearl in the passenger seat, holding his hand out for a high five that she gladly gives him. Jason gives him a more awkward high five since he's sitting right behind him and the angle and all that.

"Alright, you got your seatbelt on, Billy?"

He buckles himself up and settles into his seat, nodding even though Jason can't see him. Well, he guesses Jason can kinda see him in the rearview mirror. "Yeah, I do."

Jason flashes him a smile in the rearview mirror and taps the blue shell hanging from it.

 

* * *

 

**_Angel Grove One-Seven_ **

_[JS 7:19 AM] uhhhh where are you guys_

_[JS 7:19 AM] class starts in like 10 min_

_[ZT 7:19 AM] kim u 4got to tell them_

_[KH 7:20 AM] i didn't know that was my job :/_

_[ZT 7:20 AM] U made the other gc thats auto responsibility_

_[KH 7:20 AM] true :/_

_[JS 7:20 AM] what other gc_

_[KH 7:20 AM] okay so funny thing,,,_

_[KH 7:20 AM] me and zack are skipping with emily and tommie_

_[T 7:21 AM] where's the punchline…_

_[KH 7:21 AM] :/_

_[JS 7:21 AM] thanks for the invite tho :/ rude_

_[KH 7:21 AM] i mean i'm not stopping you guys from skipping too… come join us, we're going train surfing_

_[T 7:21 AM] someone's gotta stay behind to identify ur bodies_

_[ZT 7:22 AM] im a pro!_

_[T 7:22 AM] no u aren't_

_[BC 7:22 AM] Be careful! We'll miss you guys, but have fun! :)_

_[T 7:22 AM] don't encourage them billy :/_

_[KH 7:22 AM] thanks billy!!! <3 _

_[EJ 7:23 AM] wow what a good bean. thAnks billy_

_[TO 7:23 AM] thAnks_

_[EJ 7:23 AM] shut ur mouth_

_[JS 7:26 AM] wait what other gc_

_[TO 7:26 AM] it's called kimothy and the outlaws :D_

_[KH 7:26 AM] it WAS called fuck school, get lit but SOMEONE thought it'd be better to hutcher my name_

_[ZT 7:26 AM] hutcher_

_[TO 7:27 AM] hutcher_

_[EJ 7:27 AM] hutcher_

_[JS 7:27 AM] hutcher_

_[T 7:27 AM] hutcher_

_[KH 7:27 AM] butcher* :/_

_[BC 7:28 AM] While you're out, can you pick up something from the hutcher shop for us, Kimothy?_

_[T 7:28 AM] alfksfjal;sfk_

_[ZT 7:28 AM] ROASTED_

_[EJ 7:28 AM] lmaooo rest in pieces_

_[JS 7:28 AM] wow kimothy hart found murdered in angel grove_

_[TO 7:29 AM] u mean found HUTCHERED_

_[JS 7:29 AM] fuck you're right dammit_

_[KH 7:29 AM] gO TO CLASS_

 

* * *

 

After Zack had crawled back through her window and the two of them had then piled into her car, Kim drove over to pick up Emily and Tommie.

"Shotgun infinity!" Zack shouts, hanging out of the rolled down passenger window as the two girls walk down their driveway and get into the backseat.

"You can't call shotgun infinity," Emily chuckles, shaking her head, "Plus, you're already sitting in it."

"Uh, you sure _can,_ " Tommie mutters, "I did a few years ago."

Kim rolls her eyes and catches Tommie's eyes in the rearview mirror and tries not to think about how she chose to sit behind her. "Then why aren't you there right now?"

"I'm being polite and letting Zack have it," Tommie says, raising her chin haughtily, "Otherwise, I'd duel him."

Zack turns around in his seat, struggling because of his seatbelt, and raises his eyebrows. "Duel me? Like with gloves that we slap each other with?"

"No, with knives, duh. It's 2016, man."

"Nobody's gonna be stabbing anyone," Kim says, "We're here to have fun."

"Yeah," Zack quips, grinning, "A train car full of fun."

"I will make you _walk._ "

He frowns. "I was _gonna_ say truckload, but it wasn't in context."

"Well, _I_ appreciate it," Tommie says, holding her hand out for a fist bump.

Zack bumps her fist then yelps as Kim suddenly puts the car into drive.

 

* * *

 

The closest train is the one Zack hangs out at near the quarry, so Kim parks her car in the parking lot of the Angel Grove Overlook Trail since that's the closest she can legally get. Parking her car at the mine too long would get her towed, and there's been a bunch of construction in that area again recently. The four of them walk the trail, hefting their backpacks on their shoulders as they do. Kim thinks it's kind of amusing that they're skipping school yet still brought along their backpacks.

"The trick," Zack is saying as he leads the way, one hand on his backpack strap and the other in Kim's, "is you gotta catch it during a turn because that's when they slow down."

"What if you _miss_?" Emily asks, a little worriedly from behind them.

Zack makes a noncommittal noise. "Eh."

"No, seriously." Tommie repeats her sister's question. "What happens if we miss? Like, are we gonna die?"

"Nobody's gonna _die,_ " Zack says, gasping like he's offended, "I told _you_ already. I'm a professional."

"I'm nervous," Emily mutters.

"It's okay," Tommie says, and Kim can faintly hear her clap her sister on the shoulder, "I'll take over as captain when you're gone."

"Yeah, right, you're not even on the team."

It's a longish walk that is mostly filled with silence from Emily and Tommie, punctuated by a couple of yawns or Tommie tripping over a rock and Emily snickering about it. Zack's pretty quiet, too, but Kim chalks it up to the early morning.

"What class d'you guys have right now?" Tommie asks into the silence.

Kim pulls up Zack's left hand that's in hers to look at the time on his communicator, even though she's got one on her _free_ left hand, too. First period's almost about to end. "I have English with your dad," she says, chuckling, "I think we're starting Romeo and Juliet today, which is… boring."

"I have, uh, Biology." Zack looks at her. "What do you have against Romeo and Juliet?"

"It's overrated, duh. I mean, star-crossed lovers? Come on, you've known each other for, like, two minutes. Chill."

He raises his eyebrows at her and subtly nods his head back at Tommie walking behind them. In silent response, she squeezes his hand a little harder until he whispers, "Ow!"

"Psychology," Emily answers, "But I'm kinda glad I'm not there right now."

"Don't you actually like that one?" Tommie asks.

"Yeah, but we just started our unit over Freud, and he's a bitch."

Kim snorts. "Wow, relatable."

Emily chuckles, "How's that relatable?"

"Freud's a bitch, I hate him."

"Okay, yeah, that's fair."

"Stop," Zack says, abruptly, then dramatically raises his free hand to his ear, "You guys hear that?" In the distance, a train horn sounds, coming steadily closer to where they are.

"Everyone heard that, babe," Kim teases and kisses him on the cheek when he pouts at her, "Come on."

They come upon the train tracks soon enough, finding a suitable area where the train turns around a slight bend in the quarry. Kim lets go of Zack's hand so that he can excitedly clap them together and shakes her head as he grins at her.

"Have any of you guys train surfed before?" Zack asks, turning to look at them.

All three girls glance at each other then shake their heads.

"I've done… like, some parkour," Emily says, shrugging, "And, like, rock climbing, but that's pretty much it."

"Parkour," Tommie agrees, and Kim clears her throat, glancing away as her brain short circuits over the idea of Tommie doing parkour.

"I just hike," Kim says, plainly, "And, sometimes, I cliff dive." Which Zack knows isn't true, but she's not going to say that she also does things that are practically impossible without her superhuman durability.

"Alright, well, some basic tips for train surfing…" Zack starts, slowly.

Kim tenses. She can see the train starting to poke out from beyond the bend, which means they should be getting ready to hop on. The fourth car has a cargo door that's slightly open, which she assumes is the target. Maybe. Zack never actually did mention what happens if they miss.

"Basic tips?" Kim asks, raising her eyebrows in anticipation.

"Go with the flow!" Zack shouts and bolts for the train, laughing and whooping, loudly.

Kim sighs, exasperatedly, but the spontaneity fills her with a fluttering sense of excitement and she takes off after him.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Emily yells from behind them and then Kim hears two pairs of footsteps rushing to catch up with her and Zack.

Then, their footsteps are drowned out by the sound of the train. The four of them run alongside it, and Kim is _slightly_ slowing herself down so that she can appear normal and not like a superhuman but she's still edging up to Zack.

"Yo, keep up," Kim says as she passes him, and she doesn't know if he can hear her but he shakes his head and laughs. She's coming up on the fourth car soon and leaps for the door, grabbing onto a metal edge easily. It's not hard for her when she could just as simply leap _over_ this train, but she has to pretend and make it seem hard since Emily and Tommie are also here. Her weight hanging off of the door causes it to slide backwards and open wider, so Kim takes the opportunity to swing herself inside the train car, the wind rushing in her ears as she collapses inside.

"Need a hand?" a voice asks. Kim blinks, looking up from the floor to see Tommie's outstretched hand, her dark green varsity jacket coming up to her wrist, and frowns.

"Wha-- how--"

There's a loud groan of effort, and Kim looks over to see Zack struggling -- "struggling" -- to clamber into the car third. Giving Tommie one last glance of surprise, Kim takes her hand and gets to her feet and walks over to the car edge. Emily is the last one in, and Kim moves to help her but she shakes her head, climbing into the car herself then laying on the ground.

"How the--" Emily huffs and makes a distressed noise in her throat that Kim feels in her soul, "How the fuck-- Let's never do that again."

Kim's heart is pounding in her chest at the thrill, even if it's not quite the same as superhumanly jumping across a ravine or diving into the 100-something-foot-drop from that same ravine, but it's just…

She grabs Zack by his t-shirt and yanks him into a kiss that's not so much sweet as it is bruising, and when she pulls back, there's a thrum underneath her bones, low and frightening. God, she wants more.

"Gross, get a room," Emily mutters, finally getting to her feet only to pause, take a deep breath, then sit back down on a nearby crate.

Tommie chuckles and sits down on the same crate, draping an arm around Emily's shoulders. "I thought you worked out."

"Listen," Emily starts, sighing, then there's a loud _thump_ as she shoves Tommie off of the crate.

Kim glances around the train car that they've all landed in. She can't tell what's in the crates, but she honestly doesn't care. There's graffiti all over the inside walls and on the floor of the car, and that gives Kim an _amazing_ idea.

Well, it's probably not _amazing,_ but her brain is going at a million miles a minute and her heart is pounding and, God, she's skipping school because her life is falling apart-- That took a turn.

"Does anyone have, I don't know, a Sharpie?" she asks.

Tommie nods. "Yeah, always, why?"

Kim grins. "We should make our mark. Track our journey."

"Edgy," Emily murmurs.

Tommie rummages in her backpack and tosses Kim a black Sharpie that Kim almost drops because she hadn't quite been paying attention, too busy keeping Tommie's gaze.

Playing with the Sharpie and twirling it between her fingers, Kim paces around the train car, looking for a suitable place to vandalize. Eventually, she passes over the front and end of the train car, ignoring the door in the back because that seems to be a popular place, and ends back up at where she started, standing next to the door with the others.

"Back so soon?" Zack asks, chuckling, and she shushes him.

Kim settles for the wall behind him, finding a spot on the metal paneling that seems useful.

"Like getting a tattoo," Zack jokes as he leans against the wall, covering up a few choice curse words with his shoulder, "You gotta think about it."

"Draw a penis!" Tommie chimes in. There's a smacking sound, and then she goes, " _What?_ I'm being _honest._ Everyone does it."

Laughing, Kim closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and thinks. She's here because, well, because she doesn't want to go to school today. Because she wants to cut her hair again but it's already short for her standards and she doesn't have any scissors on hand and if she did, she'd be doing something else-- Because her parents are getting divorced and there's another her in the same city right now, right at this moment, and _her_ parents got divorced, too, and _stayed_ divorced and maybe she just desperately hopes that won't end up being the same for her.

When she opens her eyes, she's got exactly what she wants to say in her mind to write down on this train car that probably none of them will ever see again or even remember, but it matters because the difference matters to her.

Careful to plan out space underneath, she uncaps the Sharpie and takes it to the metal wall, testing it out with a dot first then her full line: _We write our own destiny._ When she's done, she signs her name underneath it, adding a scribbly heart at the end of her signature and hands Zack the Sharpie.

Emily and Tommie have both come up behind her, interested in what she's writing.

" _We write our own destiny,_ " Tommie reads out loud, "What's that from?"

"Uh, it was just something Trini said to me once," Kim says, shrugging, "It stuck with me."

"That's deep."

Zack signs his name underneath Kim's then draws a heart next to his name, just like hers, and glances at Emily, who's closest to him, then tosses the Sharpie at Tommie, instead. "Here, new kid."

Kim shoots him a confused look that he shrugs at, and they both get out of the way for Emily and Tommie to sign. When they're all done, Kim takes a picture of it, slaps a filter on, and posts it to Instagram and Snapchat. Zack does the same, flashing Kim a grin that she mirrors.

Emily reaches for her phone then thinks better of it and sighs.

"What?" Tommie asks, nudging her with her elbow.

"Mum follows me on Snapchat."

"And?"

She thinks about it for a moment then shrugs and pulls out her phone. "Yeah, whatever."

Kim pauses. "Okay, what now?"

Zack grins and adjusts his backpack on his shoulders. "I'm _so_ glad you asked." Then, he heads for the door at the end of the train car, and the girls have no choice but to follow him.

"Full offense," Tommie says, "But I have a bad feeling about this."

"Maybe you should try listening to your bad feelings every once in awhile," Emily suggests to which Tommie ponders for a moment then waves a flippant hand.

"Nah."

Grunting, Zack pulls the door open, and Kim quickly moves to stand by his side, using her body to block the fact that he just broke the lock on the door from view. Smooth.

More wind from outside roars into the train car, leaving them unable to hear each other, so Zack motions for everyone to follow him then goes outside onto the little platform at the end of the car. He's already halfway up a ladder leading to the roof when Kim walks out, and she can't help the grin that spreads on her face. That low thrum buzzing through her veins still, she quickly climbs up after him, wavering when she stands on the roof. Cliffs are steady and kinda don't move. A moving train… well, the closest thing she'd ever been to was getting yanked by Jason into Billy's mom's moving van, and then…

Well, then, this same train -- she assumes it's the same one, but there's no way to be sure, anyway -- had rammed straight into them.

Kim shudders a little, and Zack holds out a hand to steady her, thinking she's unbalanced. She's not, but she lets him wrap his arm around her waist and pull her close, regardless.

Emily and Tommie have climbed up, too. Kim lets out a loud, full laugh as Tommie holds out a hand to help Emily up then pretends to push her over the side.

"Don't even fucking _start,_ " Emily warns, pointing a stern finger at Tommie who just sticks out her tongue at her.

"Come on," Zack says, tugging on Kim's shirt, "We're not done here."

Kim raises her eyebrows. "What… more is there?"

Zack smirks and takes off his backpack, putting it on the ground and rummaging through it. He pulls out four cylinders that Kim vaguely recognizes as smoke canisters with a ring of color around the black can displaying the color -- pink, black, green, and orange. He tosses her the pink one then hands Tommie the green and orange ones, keeping the black one for himself as he puts his backpack back on.

Tommie makes a motion to throw Emily hers overhand like a football then laughs and lightly tosses it to her.

"Have you always had these?" Kim asks.

"Uhhhh, maybe," Zack answers, shrugging, "I told you. I'm a pro."

Kim chuckles. "Are you about to put this on YouTube?"

"Maybe." He pulls his phone out of his pocket and unlocks it.

"Don't drop your phone."

"No promises." Zack glances at Emily and Tommie and holds up his smoke canister. "Easy enough, right? Pull the pin and hold onto it. There's about a dozen cars that way --" He points toward the end of the train then motions at the front. "-- and three that way. So, obviously, we're going toward the dozen. More room to run."

"It's gonna be a couple of minutes before we're out of the quarry," Zack continues, clearly familiar with this train's route or, at least, these train tracks, "So, we're gonna run 'til the end and then hop off."

"Like… not from the roof, right?" Emily asks.

Zack just smirks in response and pulls the pin on his canister. Black smoke seeps out, increasing as the seconds tick by and the wind urges it on. Taking a running start, he leaps to the next train car, landing on his knees. It's only with Kim's heightened senses that she can clearly see the dents in the metal his knees leave with the impact. Sloppy.

Kim tugs at the pin on her canister, feeling a shiver of excitement jolt through her body when the bright pink smoke billows out. Letting out a loud whoop of joy that she's sure can hardly be heard over the _clunk-clunk_ of the train's machinery, she rushes past Emily and Tommie and jumps after Zack. For a brief moment while she's in the air, she remembers how that'd felt the first time, jumping across the ravine with Jason, back when things had been so, so different.

Then, she lands, perfectly on her feet, crouching to keep her momentum. And to keep from faceplanting into the roof of the train car. Zack is already ahead of her, moving onto the next car, recording himself with one hand and waving his canister around with the other. Grinning, Kim runs after him, tightly holding onto her canister, not really caring if Emily and Tommie can keep up behind her.

It turns into a race between the four of them, just barely, because at one point, somehow, Tommie passes her up and then Kim's neck and neck with Emily who keeps grumbling to herself, but eventually, Emily falls behind and makes it to the last train car last.

Tommie beats Kim by mere seconds, and as Kim squints at her, perplexed, she wonders if maybe she would've beaten Zack if he didn't have a head start. But, that's impossible; she and Zack are _superheroes._ They would've both won if they'd been using their _real_ speed.

At the end of the train, there's another ladder to one last platform, which Kim notices that Emily sighs in relief at.

"Come on!" Zack says, shouting to be heard, then throws his canister in the air, not waiting for it to land before he starts down the ladder.

Kim plays a vine in her head before she throws hers and follows him. By the time Emily and Tommie are starting down the ladder, Zack has already jumped off, rolling into the dirt to save his landing. Kim jumps next, blood rushing in her ears as she tumbles to the ground, the world spinning around her before she rolls to a stop, facedown in the dirt. "Ugh."

When Kim stumbles to her feet, shaking some grass out of her hair and thankfully glad that her skin is tougher than a normal person's now, she looks up to see that Tommie's already jumped off and is in the process of coaxing Emily off of the train. It happens so fast that she almost misses it, but Emily jumps off and Tommie hadn't been close enough, but, somehow, the two of them both end up collapsing in the grass with Tommie shielding Emily's fall. Huh.

Zack goes off to pick up the canisters to throw away later, and Kim goes over to help Emily and Tommie up. Instinctively, she fishes a leaf out of Tommie's hair, getting a quick glance from the girl. Kim smiles, innocently, and after a brief pause, Tommie smiles back. Oh, boy.

Groaning, Emily gets up and brushes her clothes off then pushes her right sleeve up and twists her arm around, wincing as she examines a nasty scrape on her elbow. "Ow."

"You good?" Kim asks. Well, obviously not, but there doesn't seem to be too much blood, so.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she answers, "I've got a first aid kit thing in my bag." She looks at Tommie. "Are you hurt?"

"Nope," Tommie says without checking over herself, "Must be 'cause of this lucky jacket." She flashes a wink at Kim, and Kim pauses. That… hadn't been a trick of the sunlight, right?

Emily scoffs. "Yeah, sure, that's it."

Tommie glances around. "We can go back to the car and fix you up, uh… which way's the parking lot?"

Emily looks at their surroundings for a moment, shielding her eyes against the sunlight streaming through the trees, and points in the direction that Kim knows the trail is in. "That way." They start off in that direction, Tommie taking Emily's backpack from her shoulders and hefting both of them while Emily mutters something about her ankle aching. "You know," Emily says, her voice faintly fading as she gets further away, "A couple of weeks ago, there was, like, an accident here and someone's stolen van got trashed by the train…"

It's only then that Kim realizes where they've jumped off at. It's not the exact same spot, but she steps up to the tracks and glances in the direction that the train had gone and, in the far distance, just a fuzzy shape that she can make out with her eyes, is where the train tracks cross the gravelly road from the mine.

Zack taps her on the shoulder. She flinches, hearing metal screech in her ears, but relaxes when she sees it's only him.

"You good?" he asks.

"So much has changed since we were last here," she answers, reaching for his hands.

"Hm?" Zack glances at the train tracks then has the same realization as her. "Oh. Yeah, I guess it has." He gives her a small smile and pulls her in for a soft kiss. "I'd do it all over again, though."

Kim smiles against his lips and pulls away, laughing for no reason other than just because. "So would I," she agrees.

 

* * *

 

In all of her life, Lauren has never been inside a morgue before. Truthfully, there's a _lot_ of things she hasn't done, and she's been gradually working on a bucket list since coming out of hiding years ago. It's been progressing well. Seeing a dead body in the flesh isn't quite what she imagined would ever go on that bucket list, but technically, it counts. She’d never gone to her father’s funeral, never seen his body. Couldn’t, wasn’t allowed to. It’d been too dangerous for her to go back. Lauren doesn’t remember her mother’s funeral, either. Jayden had definitely not been old enough to remember, but she thinks her mind has willingly forgotten the memory.

She thinks it’s a little counterintuitive to have eaten before going to the morgue, but the alternative had not really been appealing, either, so. Lauren feels like she has a strong stomach, and if anyone’s going to get sick, it _probably_ will be Garrett. The poor guy is clearly attached to this case, but Lauren isn’t going to argue against him being here since she’s not his boss. She doesn’t quite agree with it, though.

Garrett takes her to Angel Grove Community Hospital and leads her inside then down an elevator and through a series of hallways that ultimately end in the dull morgue. Lauren tries not to, but she sees an ironic metaphor in it.

The medical examiner is in her office that looks out at the morgue room through an old glass window and easily waves Lauren and Garrett through, not bothering to check their ID. Lauren figures that as long as she’s tagging along with Garrett, she seems to be fine. These suburbs are apparently familiar to and with him, judging by the friendly greetings she’d gotten at IHOP from the moment she walked in with him and then all throughout their breakfast. But, even on her own, she’d be fine. Cam had teleported her finalized ID into her pocket halfway through breakfast, having finished printing it out and making it look, well, real.

Garrett stops at the entrance to the morgue room, lingering by the doorway. "You, uh, go ahead," he says, quietly, "I’ve already seen the, um, the body."

She had thought he’d say that. "Yeah, alright." Lauren briefly pats him on the arm, which feels ridiculously strange to her. She’s not too big on physical touch, anyway, but his almost-girlfriend just died and he’s stuck working her case. Rough.

Pushing her way through the double doors, Lauren lets out a tense sigh, her stomach coiling at the smell of a strong solution ever present in the air. She scrunches her nose and mutters, "Ugh, what is that?"

 _"I wouldn't know since I can't smell what you're smelling,"_ Cam replies, flatly, _"But my best guess would be formaldehyde. It's generally used as a disinfectant in a lot of morgues, laboratories, places like that."_

"It smells _lovely._ " Lauren scowls.

 _"Hayley could probably say more. I_ **_think_ ** _the CDC or something similar classified it as a human carcinogen? I'm not entirely sure."_

"Is it too late to call Hayley on her shift and ask?"

_"She said only if it was an emergency."_

"You just told me I'm breathing in a carcinogen, I'm a little emergent."

_"That's not… 'emergent' and 'emergency' aren't related."_

Lauren huffs, "I know, Cam. It was a little humor for you. Haha. Laugh. We're in a place where dead people go to die."

Presumably, the medical examiner had recently finished up with Vivian's autopsy because her body is still out on one of the operating tables -- Lauren calls it an operating table in her mind, but she's not sure that's exactly what it's supposed to be called -- in the room, a white sheet covering her up to her shoulders. As Lauren walks further into the room, the lingering of formaldehyde in the air just seeps more and more into her realm of awareness, and she grumbles. Monsters don't smell so great, either, but at least, she's somewhat used to the foul stench that comes with monsters from the Netherworld.

 _"Does it still smell gross?"_ Cam asks.

"Yep."

_"I just texted Hayley, and she said to breathe through your nose a few times, really quickly, and then your brain should get accustomed to it, somewhat, after that."_

"Do I _want_ to know exactly how my sense of smell works?"

_"Probably not scientifically, no."_

Pursing her lips and bracing herself, Lauren follows Hayley's instructions, shuddering when her next few breaths overwhelm her senses with the artificial smell. It's just so _unsettling,_ but Hayley had been right. Not a surprise. After a few quick breaths, Lauren finds that either the smell is slightly dulled, now, or, psychologically, she just _believes_ it's duller. Either way, it's better than when she walked in.

There's a small rolling cart sitting next to the operating table Vivian's body is on, cleared of tools and such but the medical examiner has left Lauren the autopsy report in a folder. Picking it up, Lauren opens it, expecting to see nothing and…

"Nothing," she comments, unsurprised.

The medical examiner details a lot of things that are ultimately useless to Lauren's investigation, which isn't helpful but then again, she can't imagine that this autopsy would have been anything less than absolutely frustrating to try and find a cause of death for hours and come up with nothing.

Lauren decides to take a crack at it herself, though, not that she expects to find anything. Just maybe… maybe her Ranger senses can pick up on something the medical examiner couldn't. Plus, she has the added awareness that this most likely _is_ an unnatural death, caused by magic of some sorts. Reaching over, Lauren hesitantly lifts the white sheet covering Vivian's body and bundles it up to the side of the operating table. She's never been this close to a dead body before. It's… a little eerie.

Glancing around, Lauren spots a clean-up station against the far wall and strides over, washing her hands in the sink and grabbing a pair of latex gloves to put on. She walks back over to the operating table and stares at Vivian's lifeless body. "I don't know what I'm looking for," she admits, quietly, to Cam.

_"Well, that's to be expected. Normally, in our line of duty, whatever is causing this just ends up showing itself, usually really loudly and obnoxiously, in the city square or the mall or somewhere public. And, then, you know the drill."_

She definitely does, but… "We're not dealing with our normal anymore. I mean, Rangers with alien technology, Kimberly's got some sort of… doppelganger, and, as far as I know, we've never had a civilian get murdered while the Power Rangers were active and able to stop it."

 _"Weird to think of,"_ Cam mutters, _"That_ **_this_ ** _is abnormal for us."_

Hesitantly, she lifts Vivian's right arm, which is closest to her, first, looking for… something. Something peculiar. _Anything_ peculiar. "Yeah, something absolutely normal like death is abnormal for us. Ironic." Not seeing anything of interest on Vivian's arm, Lauren gives up and moves onto her other arm then legs, the back of her neck, her scalp, and finally, her fingertips. Frowning, she sighs, heavily, when she's done.

Cam asks, _"What were you looking for?"_

"I don't know… puncture wounds? Like, a needle under her fingernail or something."

_"The toxicology report the ME left came up negative, though."_

"I don't know, I was just… hoping for something solid." Frustrated, Lauren quickly tries to brainstorm all the ways she's see someone die on, like, episodes of _CSI_ or _Criminal Minds,_ but her brain suddenly blanks on all the Netflix she's ever binged when put on the spot. "What if…" She thinks of how she's seen a fake, fictional crime scene investigation go down and racks her brain for ideas. "What if…" Lauren blinks. "A light."

_"A light?"_

"The, uh, that special light cops use to see, like, blood spatter that's been cleaned up."

_"A… blacklight?"_

"Yeah. Do you have something for that?"

_"Um, give me a second… Alright, hold out your hand."_

Lauren does so, and a moment later, Cam teleports a small flashlight into her palm. She clicks it on, shining a purplish-blue glow onto the floor. "Amazing. Thanks."

_"You really should work on your gratitude."_

"I'm going to ignore that."

Finding the light switch for the room, Lauren goes over and flips the lights off, her stomach abruptly turning when the room is plunged into darkness. The lights of the morgue had already been not too bright and the greenish hue of the walls is just about as bland as the grey floor tiles, so overall, the morgue looks… well, dead. But, in the darkness, it just seems creepy.

"Hey, Cam," Lauren asks, quietly, under her breath, "You ever play any horror games?"

_"I try not to make life any worse for myself."_

"Good, good."

_"It's just a morgue, Lauren. It's not like there are zombies."_

"Please don't say that. Now I'm gonna be worried."

Using the flashlight to guide her back to the operating table without running into anything, Lauren re-examines all of what she had earlier, checking especially under Vivian's fingertips for anything that could even resemble an entrance wound the size of a needle's tip, but she still finds nothing. And nothing on the back of her neck or behind her ears, either, all places that, ideally, would be where Lauren figures she'd go for if she wanted to be subtle. Not that… she'd ever murder someone, but… hypothetically.

"This is so _frustrating,_ " Lauren mutters, exasperatedly, tilting her head back to glare at the ceiling and waving the flashlight out of irritation, "It's _obviously_ something, you know, not _normal,_ but this is a _real_ case, so I have to treat it like I'm _not_ a Ranger. Isn't there just some monster I can blow up?"

_"Lauren."_

"What?"

_"Look back down at the body."_

"Um, okay." She does so. "Why?"

_"When you were shaking the flashlight around, I thought I saw something…"_

Lauren broadly shines the flashlight back down on Vivian's body, and that's when she sees it. She'd been so focused on an entrance wound on the appendages that she hadn't noticed something else -- not that she'd known there was something else to even _look_ for.

Just underneath Vivian's collarbone on her right side is a small tattoo, a wide chevron in its signature inverted V shape. Lauren leans in closer, peering at it. It's basically the size of her thumb, and when she shines the flashlight away, it's gone. Swallowing her discomfort, Lauren rubs her gloved thumb over the skin where the tattoo is but doesn't feel anything.

"It's an invisible tattoo…" Lauren murmurs, "But… I mean, I don't-- I don't know much about tattoos, but aren't they supposed to, I don't know, _feel_ when you touch them?"

_"Google is showing me that invisible tattoos are usually visible on the skin faintly. You should still be able to see it in regular light."_

"Did you… just say Google?"

_"What, do you think I don't Google things while we're talking? Come on, Lauren, I don't know everything."_

"If you're Googling things, then how come we're working together? _I_ can Google things on my own."

_"I don't know. Please let me go teach my class in peace."_

"Hm. No. Can you find anything on the tattoo?"

Cam sighs. _"Nope. It's just a chevron and there's no additional details or text along with it, so it honestly could be anything. We know Vivian wasn't in the military, so this has to mean something else. Or, you know, it could just be some kind of aesthetic tattoo. It could mean nothing."_

Lauren pulls off one of her gloves and takes her phone out of her pocket. Shining the flashlight on the tattoo again, she takes a picture of it then puts her phone away. "You know we have Ranger intuition, right?"

_"Some of us do, yes."_

The unease in her stomach disappearing now that she's gotten _something,_ Lauren replaces the white sheet over Vivian's body and turns away. She tucks the flashlight into her pocket as well then goes and flips the lights back on, discarding her gloves into the trash and washing her hands again.

Pulling the double doors open, she leaves the morgue room, her insides feeling… different. She's seen a dead body, now, and it definitely wasn't pleasant. Or wanted. But necessary. Garrett is still waiting in the hallway and looks up from his phone as she exits.

"Hey," he greets, "Get anything?"

"Yeah, actually, but I don't know what it means." Lauren pulls her phone out and shows him the photo of the tattoo. "I found this on her -- it's invisible ink, I guess, but it's not even visible in regular light. Have you seen it before?"

She's been observing her whole life, so it's the only way she catches the slight widening of Garrett's eyes as he looks at the photo and the split-second tensing of his neck muscles. He doesn't linger on that first reaction, though, and gives her what he probably means to be his "first" reaction, the furrowing of his brow in confusion. But, it's too late. She had caught it, even if he hadn't lingered. Most people do, those who are untrained, at least, because they're busy conjuring up the reaction they _want_ to give.

It tells Lauren so many things in just one second. First off, that he _has_ seen it before, and second, that he's trained to control his face and, more so, lie.

"No, never seen it before," Garrett says, frowning at her, "What d'you think it means?"

Lauren's almost tempted to expose him right there, but she can't. It's not strategic to do so, and she has no idea where this leads -- what the tattoo means, what Garrett's knowledge of the tattoo consists of, anything. So, she doesn't.

"I'm not sure," she answers, tucking her phone away, "But I think it's time for me to check out the high school."

 _"Speaking of,"_ Cam cuts in, _"I've got your rental car ready. There's a place about two blocks from the station where you can pick it up."_

Garrett nods. "Yeah, sure. I have some paperwork I need to finish back at the station, but do you need a ride?"

"Just back to the station. I can walk to where I have my rental parked from there."

"Alright, then, let's go." He walks off down the hallway in the direction they'd came, leading the way.

Lauren lingers behind for a second, eyeing his back, and says, quietly, so that only Cam can hear her. "Hey, Cam? Find me everything you can on Garrett Larsen."

 

* * *

 

For lunch, the four kids decide on the Red Lobster in the little shopping strip outside of The Grove because it ends up being three votes to one neutral. Mostly because it's a "you only skip school once in awhile, so why not make it a special occasion meal" thing. That and Emily offers to pay.

Kim, surprisingly, is the one with the neutral vote.

They're standing outside of her car as Tommie disinfects and wraps a bandage around Emily's elbow. Zack is sitting on the hood of Kim's car, not that she minds, and trying to get his YouTube video to upload off of the crappy trail wi-fi.

"If you have a problem with it--" Kim says.

Emily cuts her off, firmly. "I already said I _don't._ "

"Yeah, but you're just saying that to be polite."

"Trust me," Tommie murmurs, "Em would let you know."

"She's right," Emily confirms then winces when Tommie wipes disinfectant on her wound, "Look, it's fine."

Kim sighs. "Can you eat anything there?"

"I can have a salad."

"That's-- that's not a meal. This is _lunch._ "

Emily snorts. "It's better than what we'd be getting if we were at school right now. Kim, it's fine--"

"There are kosher places in the city--" she protests.

"And I'm saying we're going to Red Lobster," Emily counters, "Three votes to one."

Kim scowls. "I'm the driver."

"Are you saying this _isn't_ a democracy?"

Tommie finishes up bandaging Emily's elbow then scoffs. "America hasn't been a democracy since… awhile. Haven't you been paying attention?" she jokes. Well, it's not really a joke.

Kim sighs, loudly, and clicks the button to unlock her car doors on her remote. "Ugh, fine. Red Lobster, it is."

 

* * *

 

The school day passes as a bore for Trini, as always, but even more so because both Kim and Zack aren't there. It's not that she _misses_ Zack, but his presence makes things annoyingly louder and more obnoxious. Which, like, not like she isn't glad he's off having fun skipping school while she's stuck walking into History alone. Or anything.

There's a man sitting at Ms. Bhavani's desk with short brown hair, dressed in a maroon button-up shirt and black slacks. Trini had heard there'd be a new teacher after… yesterday, but she doesn't know this substitute and she's sure she's had every single substitute teacher in this school by now at least once. The chalkboard has his name written at the top in capital letters: _Mr. Rocky DeSantos._

Trini slumps down in her seat near the back of the room and glances at Zack's empty seat a few over. Not that she _misses_ him or anything, but it would be nice to see the stupid smirk on his face. And then threaten it right off of his face.

 

* * *

 

_[T 11:15 AM] yo we got a new teacher for history like hes not one of the regular subs_

_[T 11:15 AM] we had a moment of silence for bhavani this morning after 1st period started_

_[ZT 11:15 AM] whos the sub_

_[T 11:16 AM] his names rocky desantos, i just googled him he used to teach in stone canyon or smthng idk_

_[T 11:16 AM] (image attachment)_

_[ZT 11:16 AM] um omg hes a l☐☐ker_

_[T 11:17 AM] did u just use the eye emoji as the oo in looker……_

_[T 11:17 AM] disgusting !_

 

* * *

 

The four of them grab a square table near a window at Tommie's request because she says she doesn't like booths, and Kim remembers something about closed spaces from Monday. She sits across from Tommie with Zack on her left and Emily on her right.

"Hey," Zack says after their waiter takes their order and drops off a basket of Cheddar Bay Biscuits on their table, "The others are having lunch right now, too, I think --" He checks his watch. "Yep, A lunch just started. We should tease them with a Snap."

Kim waves her phone at him. "Already ahead of you." She takes a picture of the biscuits and sends it off to the the Ranger group Snapchat, also named Power Geeks™ and captions it: _Wish u guys were here ;)_

It's opened by Trini immediately and then Jason then Billy.

Kim grabs a biscuit and munches on it, humming as the chat shows that Jason is typing then not typing then typing again then not typing.

And then a Snap video comes in and she raises her eyebrows. "Hold on," she declares to the table, "I got a bite." Kim raises the volume on her phone a little bit but not too much and places her phone in the middle of the table then opens the video.

The front-facing camera is pointed at Jason, and the background noise of the cafeteria is evident. He isn't looking at the camera which, from the angle, looks to be in his hand but he's not holding it up. Kim can see the ceiling of the cafeteria over his shoulder. He's talking to Billy and Trini, presumably.

_"-- Can't believe this, that's just torture."_

_"She did invite us,"_ Trini says, and Kim chuckles.

Jason looks at his phone camera and gives it the middle finger. _"Thanks for the fucking invite, hoes."_

Zack snorts, half of a biscuit in his mouth.

"Trini's right," Tommie says, "You _did_ invite them."

"Like, last minute while they were already at school," Emily adds, laughing.

Kim grabs her phone and records a video to send back to the group. "You snooze, you lose, Jay. Want us to bring something back for you?"

After Jason opens her video, he starts typing immediately.

 **_jason_ ** _YES_

 **_jason_ ** _I WANT SOME CHEDDAR BAY BISCUITS_

 **_trini_ ** _can u say pls lmao_

 **_jason_ ** _PLEASE_

 **_jason_ ** _IM ON MY KNEES BEGGING U WITH TEARS IN MY EYES_

 **_trini_ ** _hes not_

 **_billy_ ** _He really is not._

 **_jason_ ** _trini shut up, billy ur awesome but shhhh_

 **_jason_ ** _KIMOTHY HART, LEADER OF THE OUTLAWS… PLEASE_

 **_jason_ ** _I'LL DO ANYTHING_

When Kim looks up, Zack is grinning at her, having read the conversation on his phone as well. A mischievous smile spreads on her face, and Emily says, "Uh-oh."

"Uh-oh, what?" Tommie asks.

"They have that look on their faces again." Emily points between Kim and Zack. "Something's about to happen."

"You're absolutely right," Kim confirms, propping her elbows on the table and looking at Emily and Tommie, "Because Jason just said in our Snapchat group that he wants some Cheddar Bay Biscuits."

Zack adds, "And he just said he'll do _anything._ "

"Oh." Tommie blinks. "That's bad."

Emily rubs the bridge of her nose. "Jason, no…"

 **_kim_ ** _how many?_

 **_jason_ ** _uhhhh uhhhh oh god uhh six… ?_

 **_jason_ ** _seven million_

 **_jason_ ** _jk six yeah_

Zack laughs, a little maniacally, to himself and puts his chin in his hand, looking at Kim. "Okay, what's the plan here?"

"We're watching a tragedy unfold," Tommie murmurs.

"Maybe we should tell Jason to stop," Emily says.

"And miss seeing how this ends? No way."

"It's gotta be something good," Kim answers.

"Okay… make him dye his hair silver."

Emily chokes on the sip of water she'd been taking, and Tommie smacks her on the back. "I'm-- I'm fine. Gosh, that sounds fucking awful."

Kim thinks about it, but it just doesn't sound _good_ enough. "Hmmmmm."

"Hmmmmm?" Zack mimics her.

"Shaving his head."

"Yeah, but then _we'd_ have to look at him. Changing the autocorrect in his phone."

"Not funny enough to last for a long time. Changing his ringtone to an air horn."

"What if we forget we changed it? Put Post-It notes all over his truck."

"That's so much work… His first child."

"What?"

"Excuse me?" Emily asks, raising her eyebrows.

"The name of his first child," Kim elaborates.

Tommie laughs and then when Kim doesn't laugh, she balks. "Like… seriously?"

"Oh, my God," Zack exclaims, reaching over and smacking Kim on the arm, excitedly, "We can name it Hurricane!"

"This is… so much worse," Emily sighs, "Just make him dye his hair silver."

"How are you even gonna remember this when he _does_ have a kid? Or what if he doesn't ever?" Tommie questions.

"Uhhh…" Kim grabs a napkin from the stack their waiter had put on the table and pulls a pen out of her backpack hanging off the back of the chair. She tests the pen on the napkin then writes in the middle _The name of Jason Scott's first child for 6 Cheddar Bay Biscuits_ then signs her name underneath it and slides it over to Zack along with the pen.

Emily covers her eyes.

Picking her phone up, Kim sends off a message to the Snapchat group.

 **_kim_ ** _i have a price for you jason_

 **_kim_ ** _for six cheddar bay biscuits…_

 **_jason_ ** _yes???_

 **_kim_ ** _the name of your first child goes to me and zack_

 **_jason_ ** _what_

 **_trini_ ** _oh for fucks sake_

 **_jason_ ** _what like i name my kid kim if it's a girl and zack if it's a boy???_

 **_kim_ ** _no like WE get to choose the name_

 **_jason_ ** _oh_

 **_jason_ ** _uhhhhh_

 **_kim_ ** _six cheddar bay biscuitsssss_

 **_trini_ ** _is this extortion_

 **_zack_ ** _no_

 **_zack_ ** _its called social contract j knows hes in govt_

 **_jason_ ** _no i'm not… i have history…_

 **_zack_ ** _oh well nyway its social contract_

 **_billy_ ** _It IS extortion, which is defined as obtaining something you want through threats of force, use of actual force, or leverage of something over the other party. Usually money but can be other things._

 **_kim_ ** _we provide… leverage!_

 **_trini_ ** _what_

 **_kim_ ** _ur so uncultured with pop culture :/_

 **_kim_ ** _anyway it's not extortion if he agrees to it willingly!!!_

 **_kim_ ** _do it for Vine_

 **_kim_ ** _which will be the name of ur future child, possibly_

 **_trini_ ** _Jason Scott, don't_

 **_jason_ ** _six cheddar bay biscuits?_

 **_kim_ ** _six cheddar bay biscuits_

 **_jason_ ** _ok dealio_

 **_kim_ ** _(Snap)_

 **_jason_ ** _is… is that a napkin contract_

 **_trini_ ** _i told u not to bitch… those two tgthr are srs bsns_

 **_kim_ ** _too late he already said "ok dealio"_

 **_kim_ ** _you'll sign it later after school_

 **_kim_ ** _thank you for doing business with kimothy and the outlaws :)_

 **_jason_ ** _she… embraced… kimothy…_

 **_jason_ ** _too powerful what have i done_

 **_zack_ ** _signed Hurricane's life away_

 **_zack_ ** _or Vine_

 **_zack_ ** _mackayleigh_

 **_kim_ ** _alfkskfskff LMAO_

 **_kim_ ** _mackynnleigh_

 **_trini_ ** _pls stop makin me see these abominations_

 **_kim_ ** _be quiet susan_

Triumphantly putting her phone down, Kim grabs another biscuit and starts on it, high fiving Zack with her free hand. She grabs the napkin and carefully folds it, tucking it into the back of her phone's wallet case.

Emily blinks, perplexed. "I feel like we just watched two chaos gods plan out the destruction of the earth," she says to Tommie.

"Thanks." Kim smiles, proudly.

 

* * *

 

**_The Ranger Bunch_ **

_[BC 11:32 AM] Okay, so I have a dinner my mom is hosting at our house tonight for some family friends and it's at 8 tonight, so can we move the campfire up earlier tonight? Maybe 6 or 7?_

_[T 11:32 AM] 6 makes sense so u can get home and have time to help ur mom out_

_[JS 11:32 AM] i'm cool with 6 yeah_

_[ZT 11:33 AM] fine w/ me and kim shes kinda busy eating rn lol_

_[KH 11:33 AM] ur literally right next to me shush_

_[KO 11:34 AM] Aren't you… all all right next to each other?_

_[ZT 11:34 AM] funny story lmao… kim take it away_

_[KH 11:34 AM] let me enjoy my food in peace smh_

_[ZT 11:34 AM] auto responsibility_

_[KH 11:35 AM] ughhhhh fine_

_[KH 11:35 AM] zack and i skipped school ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯_

_[KO 11:35 AM] KIMBERLY ANN HART_

_[KH 11:36 AM] don't act like you've never skipped school!!!_

_[KO 11:36 AM] I'm not going to ENCOURAGE it._

_[TO 11:36 AM] We most definitely have skipped school together before._

_[KH 11:36 AM] see???_

_[KO 11:36 AM] To MORPH and SAVE THE CITY._

_[KH 11:36 AM] LEAVE ME ALONE… I JUST WANNA EAT SEAFOOD AND HOLD MY BOYFRIEND'S HAND… AND VANDALIZE A TRAIN_

_[T 11:36 AM] what_

_[KO 11:37 AM] What_

_[JS 11:37 AM] whom_

_[KH 11:37 AM] campfire @ 6 cool thanks bye_

 

* * *

 

_[KO 11:38 AM] Hey._

_[KO 11:38 AM] Speaking of campfire at 6, would you like to have a picnic today? It's nice out._

_[T 11:38 AM] r u sure u texted the right person…_

_[KO 11:38 AM] This is "small and grumpy", right?_

_[T 11:38 AM] ur not that much taller than me… ur husband is like a whole foot taller than u lmao_

_[T 11:39 AM] y a picnic_

_[T 11:39 AM] y me_

_[KO 11:39 AM] Why not?_

_[T 11:39 AM] thats such a mom thing to say ew_

_[T 11:39 AM] just u and me?_

_[KO 11:40 AM] Yes, just me and you._

_[T 11:40 AM] when?_

_[KO 11:40 AM] 5:30? We can go straight to the campfire after._

_[T 11:41 AM] ok sure_

_[T 11:41 AM] i'm grounded so just lmk when ur on my street and i'll sneak out_

_[KO 11:41 AM] Okay! Looking forward to it :)_

_[T 11:41 AM] chill…_

 

* * *

 

Lauren hadn't needed Cam and Hayley's help to get inside of Angel Grove High School, which is fine. Hayley's still on her shift, and Cam actually needed to go teach a class. She doesn't mind the quiet, anyway. Hearing someone speak in her ear whenever is just a little bit jarring, sometimes. The receptionists at the front office don't question her FBI badge and send her off with a visitor sticker after checking her ID. It's all too easy, really, and Lauren finds it concerning that a high school just let in someone who _isn't_ actually a federal agent. Not that she's _dangerous,_ but if she can get in, then who else can, right?

The classroom door is open, but Lauren gently raps her knuckles on B213, anyway, to catch the attention of the only person inside. Rocky looks up from the papers he's reading over and blinks in surprise. "Lauren?"

"Shhh," she says, chuckling, and walks into the classroom. She points at the visitor sticker on her chest that has her name printed on it. "For now, I'm FBI Special Agent Ada King."

"Right." Rocky raises his eyebrows at her. "What're you doing here? I thought you were off playing, well, cop."

"That's why I'm here," she answers, glancing around the classroom. All of Vivian's previous decor is still up; the only thing that's Rocky's in this classroom is himself and his name written on the chalkboard. "I have some people I need to talk to -- coworkers of Vivian's. Just thought I'd drop by and see if I could get anything from her workspace."

Lauren approaches Vivian’s desk, which has mostly been untouched, presumably, save for a red binder that’s probably Rocky’s and papers that are definitely his because of the handwriting. There’s two framed photographs on the desk, one that’s the same fountain photo she had seen in Vivian’s home office and a new one she hasn’t seen of Vivian, Lana, Gabby, and Edward sitting on the ground in front of Vivian’s fireplace, holding different historical replicas in their hands, having been captured in the middle of candidly laughing. Vivian has what looks like a crusader’s helmet in her hands and is trying to force it over Edward’s head.

Lauren squints, picking the photo up and examining it; she recognizes the objects the others are holding, but the helmet is new. She hadn’t seen it at the house before. Interesting. Quickly, Lauren takes her phone out and takes a picture of the photo for future reference since she’s sure she’ll be going back to the crime scene again later.

Rocky gets up and joins her as she sets the photo back down and walks around the room, looking at the various historical maps and posters lining the walls. "How's the investigation going?"

"Uh, something… weird's going on."

"You mean besides a murder with blood on the wall and Kimberly and Tommy having miniature versions of themselves?"

"Yeah." Lauren shows him the photo she'd taken of Vivian's tattoo and tells him about the very, very brief slip-up she'd caught Garrett in.

Rocky crosses his arms. "Did you find anything on him?"

Lauren sighs, defeatedly. "I wish. Cam looked, but he _seems_ like a normal guy. Moved here to Angel Grove some time back with his little brother who's a student here, works with the Sheriff's Department, pays his bills on time, all that boring stuff."

"That’s not what your gut says, though," Rocky guesses.

"No, it’s not." Lauren pauses when she reaches the back wall of the classroom. There’s a small banner that says _Where are you from?_ and a corresponding map underneath with blue thumbtacks pushed in except… "Rocky, tell me what’s wrong with this map."

He takes a look. "Uh. There’s only nine thumbtacks when she has, I don’t know, close to a hundred students?"

That’s not exactly the answer she’s looking for, but it’s not incorrect. "She had close to two hundred students, but this map is of just the United Kingdom."

"Oh, yeah. That, too."

Lauren pulls her phone out and takes a picture. Just like the tattoo, she doesn’t know what this means, but it just _feels_ important. There’s highlighted city names next to each thumbtack. She reads them aloud. "Bristol, Oxford, London, Norwich, Derby, Lincoln, Liverpool, Manchester, York… This is a code."

Rocky gives her quizzical look. "A code? For what?"

"I don’t know, but it’s too… too _something_ to not be. You know?" The back wall has a countertop with textbooks stacked on it along with some other things. Lauren reaches for a box of blue thumbtacks, shaking them at Rocky. "There’s tons of pins here, yet there’s only nine on this poster and they’re all concentrated on this _specific_ map of the UK. It means something. I don’t know what, but… something. I’ll figure it out."

"Anyway," she continues, "I have other people to talk to while I’m here, but, real quick, how’s your first day?"

Rocky chuckles. "Lauren, I know you don’t care--"

"I _care._ "

"My day’s been fine. Go play cop."

She grins and pats him on the arm. "It’s Special Agent, actually. Have fun dealing with teenagers with--"

"Don’t say it."

"Attitude!" she finishes, chuckling as she leaves the classroom.

Faintly, she hears Rocky fake a groan but knows he found it funny anyway. Continuing down the hallway, she looks for the classroom of one Gabriela Park because B hall is where all the social studies classes are. Lauren finds it down near the end of the hall and knocks on the closed door, not seeing anyone inside since the little window in the door is covered up.

The door swings open, and a dark-haired woman with a pixie cut blinks at her, holding a cup of instant ramen, her chopsticks halfway to her mouth. "Um, hello?" the woman greets, uncertainly, swallowing her next bite, "I’m so sorry, I’m in the middle of lunch-- Can I help you?"

"You’re Gabby Park, right?" When Gabby nods, Lauren takes out her badge, causing the other woman to widen her eyes in surprise. "I’m Special Agent King with the FBI. I have some questions I’d like to ask you."

"Um, okay, yeah, okay." Gabby opens the classroom door wider and steps aside to let Lauren in. Lauren doesn’t miss how Gabby notices and glances at the gun holstered on the opposite side of her badge. "What’s this about?"

"Your friend, Vivian," Lauren says, using her softest tone. The gun and badge, no doubt, are intimidating, but just her presence by itself is, too. Lauren wouldn’t ever try to downplay it because it just comes naturally to her, but she’s got an _air_ to her. Like royalty because she is.

Gabby sighs, her shoulders visibly dropping. She walks back to her desk and sits down while Lauren just leans against an empty desk. "I didn’t know it was so serious that the FBI was getting involved. I mean-- not that this _isn’t_ serious, but--"

Lauren can already tell this woman is one of those nervous rambler types, so she politely interrupts to save her the spiral. "Her death might be involved with one of our cases. I’m working with the Sheriff’s Department to get to the bottom of this."

"Oh, okay. Um, well, I hope I can be of some help."

"Alright, do you know if there’s anyone who would want to hurt Vivian? Any… jilted lovers, ex-friends, anyone like that?"

Gabby thinks about it for a long moment then shakes her head. "Uh, no, not that I know of. She got along with people really easily. Or, at least, it seemed that way."

"When I was at her house, I noticed that she had quite a lot of photographs of vacations -- a lot of nice-looking ones, actually," she comments, "I don’t mean to sound presumptuous, but how did you and her and all of your friends manage to go abroad that often?"

"Oh," Gabby chuckles, waving her hand, flippantly, "Nah, it’s fine. I mean, everyone knows about teachers’ salaries. No, uh, Eddie’s wife would pay for some of the expenses like everyone’s hotel room or most of the meals -- that’s Edward Jordan, he’s over in C hall."

"Hm. That’s very generous of her. Any… particular reason why she’d do that?"

Gabby shrugs. "Kindness of her heart, I guess?"

"And what does she do?"

"She’s the CEO of, uh, River Renovations. They’re this… real estate company? I’m not entirely sure _what_ they are. They do a lot, I guess, but they’ve got a couple of properties around the city in progress. If you heard about the Krispy Kreme we _just_ got and then lost, that was Rachel’s company. She bought out this burger place that used to be an old arcade or something. People were really bummed about it."

"The arcade or the burger place?" Lauren asks for clarification, "Or the Krispy Kreme?"

"The arcade," Gabby answers, "It’s been here since the ‘90s? ‘80s? I’m not sure. But there were protests when it was first happening, people wanted her to bring the arcade back, but I guess her company already had a partnership with Krispy Kreme. Not that I minded the donuts. She’s used to that, anyway."

Lauren can honestly feel her inner introvert getting drained at this conversation and she’s almost positive that this woman can’t give her anything she doesn’t already know, but on the off-chance… Not that she’s frequently wrong. "The protests?"

"Mhm." Gabby nods. "River Renovations has done a lot of things that aren’t… well, I don’t know if I’d say they’re _bad_ for Angel Grove, but people get upset. I mean, the Krispy Kreme had business booming until… it got destroyed by that big gold… thing."

"Did Vivian feel any way about this? Since, you know, you said -- Rachel, was it? -- was covering a lot of everyone’s travel expenses."

Gabby makes a noncommittal shrug. "No, not really. I mean, like I said, she got along with everyone. She was outgoing, _loved_ being around people, stuff like that. A total extravert. I mean, I know that’s not everyone’s thing, but… you-- you think someone didn’t like her enough to kill her?"

"What about her relationship with her parents?" Lauren asks, changing the subject and blatantly not answering Gabby’s question, "Can you tell me anything about that?"

"Um, I know she didn’t talk to them at all, but I don’t know why… she might have told Lana. If Viv told anyone anything more, she probably would’ve told Lana. They were best friends; Viv was one of Lana’s bridesmaids-- I’m sure you already know that. Have you talked to Lana? She’s in the math hall -- that’s A hall."

"I’m gonna head over there in a bit," Lauren says then pulls her phone out to show Gabby the picture of Vivian’s tattoo, "Have you ever seen this before?"

Lauren watches her face closely. Gabby’s brow furrows as she tries to make sense of the picture. "No, what is it?"

"A tattoo that Vivian had on her body."

"What do you think it means?" Gabby asks. Lauren glances her up and down and immediately decides that she’s not lying. Her reactions are too genuine, too normal. Then again, Lauren hadn’t immediately gotten something off of Garrett until showing him the tattoo, so maybe she can’t entirely trust her instinct… or that she shouldn’t rely it on it to always work.

"I’m not sure yet," Lauren admits then swipes to the picture she’d taken of the framed photo on Vivian’s desk, "I have a question about this that I saw in her classroom. I was at her house earlier, and this helmet that she’s holding was missing. Can you tell me anything about it?"

Gabby peers at the picture then nods a little. "Yeah, that was, um, a kind of ‘job-warming’ party we had at her house shortly after she first moved here. Eddie gave her that helmet he found at a pawn shop." After a moment, Gabby scrunches her nose. "Wait, so it was a robbery, too?"

"Seems like it," Lauren answers, tucking her phone back into her pocket.

"And that’s all they took?"

"Apparently." Lauren knows differently, though. She’ll have to check in with all the others later, but she wouldn’t be surprised if that missing helmet had ended up becoming a monster last night. Fishing an FBI business card that Cam had printed for her out of her blazer pocket, Lauren hands it to Gabby. Within just a few hours, she’s gotten increasingly used to Cam just using his techno wizard skills to teleport things into her pockets without so much as a fuss. Seems like a _great_ life skill. "That’s all I had for you and I’ve got to go, but this is my number. Call me if you happen to think of anything."

Lauren says her farewell to Gabby and leaves, going down the nearest staircase and into the intersecting hallway that takes her to C hall since it’s closer. Edward Jordan’s classroom is near the end of C hall, and his door is open. She peeks inside but sees nobody and takes a step in as if he’ll just appear when she can already see that the room is empty.

In fact, he does appear, just as she turns to leave, in the doorway, holding a slightly steaming tupperware container that smells pretty good and reminds Lauren that she could be eating lunch right now. She’ll go after this.

"Oh, hello…" Edward greets, uncertainly, and blinks at her, "May I… help you?"

Lauren flashes her badge at him. "Agent King," she introduces herself, "I’m with the FBI, investigating Vivian Bhavani’s death."

"FBI," Edward murmurs, going over to set his lunch down on his desk, "That’s rather serious."

"It’s classified," Lauren answers because she doesn’t want to go through another round of this again -- and he’s only the second person she has to talk to before she can leave this school. Something about public school just seems so cramped and uncomfortable to her, and she’s never even _been._ "I have a couple of questions for you if you have the time and if you don’t mind."

Edward nods, gesturing at one of the empty desks in the front row. "Of course. Please sit," he offers, taking a seat at his own desk.

Lauren doesn’t and stays standing instead. She’s not here to get comfortable, really.

She asks her same questions as before, the same ones she'd asked Gabby, but gets absolutely nothing but genuine sadness, mourning, and confusion from both Edward and, later, Lana in A hall. It's a complete dead end, and the only additional information she gets is that the helmet missing from Vivian's house had been given to her by Edward. The other two don't act off at all, and it bothers her.

Something is so very, very off here, but the problem is that she doesn't -- won't -- know what it is until she finds it.

 

* * *

 

When the bell rings to dismiss them from lunch, Trini waves goodbye to Jason and Billy, who are still discussing how serious or not serious Kim and Zack _actually_ were about trading Jason the name of his first kid for six fucking Cheddar Bay Biscuits. Knowing Kim and Zack and Kim and Zack _together,_ though, Trini’s pretty sure they were completely serious. Dumb and impulsive, but serious.

She has office work in the library for fifth period, so Trini heads to the library, passing by the front office. It’s because she’s pulling her headphones out of her backpack that she doesn’t entirely notice the person she’s about to run into until it’s too late. An amateur mistake that she mentally chides herself for even as she registers running right into them.

Trini drops her headphones and is about to catch them with her foot, but the other woman gets there first, deftly catching them, her hand inches from the floor, and giving them back to Trini with a smile. Pausing, Trini takes her headphones back, mentally trying to catch up to how someone else had just out-reflexed her. "Uh, thanks," she murmurs.

"No problem," the blonde says, nodding, "Sorry, I wasn’t pay attention--"

"No, _I_ wasn’t, it's my bad," Trini counters, apologetically, and glances over the woman, and that’s when she notices the gold badge peeking out from underneath the woman’s black blazer on one side and the holstered gun on the other side. Her brow furrowing, she looks at the woman, oddly. Her visitor’s sticker says _FBI Special Agent Ada King._ What the hell is FBI doing at AGHS?

The woman seems to notice that Trini is sizing her up and politely smiles. "Have a nice day," she bids then brushes by Trini, heading for the school’s front entrance. Trini watches her leave, a funny feeling in her stomach. Something about her…

Shaking her head, she mulls over all the reasons why an FBI agent would be walking around Angel Grove High then decides all of them are ridiculous and far-fetched and continues into the library.

 

* * *

 

When the four of them are done eating, they pop over to The Grove right next door. Red Lobster is in a shopping strip right outside of The Grove like a courtyard, so it’s an easy walk. As Zack slips his hand into hers, Kim catches the sign of a tattoo parlor as they walk by and gets an idea but puts it on the back burner for now.

"Hey," Emily says, tapping Kim on the arm from her other side. She waves her phone at Kim. "An e-mail just went out about Homecoming nominations. They probably announced it during B lunch. Open ‘til Friday night."

"Eh, I don’t know if I really wanna do all that this year…" Kim says, shrugging uncertainly. Previous years had already been a mess with most of the cheer girls running together or taking sides all in "good fun," but now that Kim _doesn’t_ have the protection of "good fun," she doesn’t know if she wants to get involved in that drama. "The cheer squad is just waiting for a reason to mess with me."

" _I’ll_ defend your honor," Zack offers, nudging Kim’s shoulder, and grins.

"Gross and hetero," Tommie remarks. Kim rolls her eyes. The comment _does_ remind her of something -- someone, rather -- but she saves it to ask about later, if she remembers to.

" _Maybe_ they’d think about messing with Kimberly Hart," Emily quips, "But they’ll back off once they find out they’re _actually_ dealing with Kimothy and the Outlaws."

"I can’t believe you just said that with your own mouth," Kim grumbles.

"Embrace it, Kimothy," Zack teases.

"Die."

They enter The Grove through a side entrance, coming in near the always-busy Apple store. The school day is a couple hours from over, but Kim figures there isn’t enough time to do any dress shopping for Homecoming today. She needs a few hours at the very least, and the campfire is at six. Not that she could see herself taking almost six hours to find one dress-- Well, yes. But, also, she’d rather not do _just_ that for the next six hours.

"Anyone wanna go to Barnes & Noble with me?" Emily asks.

"We _just_ passed it," Tommie groans, jerking her thumb in the direction of the doors they’d just come through.

"Yeah, well, I figured I’d go in later, and then I _really_ thought about it once we came inside. Plus, I was following the two lovebirds."

"I want clothes," Kim answers, "So, I’m probably gonna go… find some."

"I’ll go with you," Zack says as if there’d been any other option. Well.

"You can go off on your own," she suggests, "I don’t wanna just drag you around the mall."

"Who will hold your bags, then?" he jokes, sticking his tongue out at her.

"I’m capable of holding my own bags, _Zachary._ "

"I wanna come with you."

"Cute."

"Gross!" Tommie mutters then grabs Emily by the arm, "Come on, let’s go to Barnes & Noble and get some Starbucks just so I can barf it out because they’re being disgusting."

"Don’t be mean, you’re just mad you’re single--" Emily replies, yanking her arm free, "Let _go_ of me."

"Me? Mad? You’ve never even _dated_ anyone!"

The sounds of the two sisters bickering get drowned out by the ambient bustling of the mall as they leave the same way they came. Kim chuckles a little to herself then looks at Zack. "So. Clothes."

"Where were you thinking?"

"Uhhh, pfff, ummm."

"I love that store!" Zack exclaims then laughs when Kim flicks him in the arm.

"Whatever." She tugs on his hand. "We’re going to PacSun."

"PacSun? God, that’s _so_ white," he says, loudly, attracting a few glances from passerbys. Kim ignores them. She honestly wouldn’t be afraid to fight someone for Zack -- in fact, she’s already fought the whitest boy she knows for him, so one for one.

"I’m half-white," she replies, flatly.

"Yeah, I know, it’s the ugliest part of you--" Zack quickly takes his words back without prompt, fumbling. "I’m so sorry, that was really mean, I don’t mean that, Kim, I love you."

She stops walking just to crack up at how quickly Zack backtracks. He stares at her, bewildered. "Come on, _commit_ to the roast."

"I didn’t want it to get into sensitive territory!" he protests, pouting.

Kim chuckles and leans up, giving him a kiss on the lips and smiling when his pout turns into a small smile. "I’d never get mad at you for roasting me," she says, "And, besides, _I_ know I’m a basic bitch. We’ve established this. I drove to get Starbucks last Saturday, and we said we were all meeting at Java City. So… fire away."

"You have the most basic tastes in things because you’re half-white," Zack states.

"I’m dating you, aren’t I?" she counters, raising her eyebrows, daringly.

He gasps, offended, and puts a hand to his chest as she keeps dragging him off to the escalator that’ll take them to the second level PacSun. "How dare you lump me in with your white brand name tastes? I’m the _exception._ To _everything._ "

 

* * *

 

PacSun -- the mall, in general, really -- is hardly bustling when Kim and Zack walk in since, well, it's the middle of a Wednesday and they're skipping school. Zack mutters something about Kim being _sooo_ white once again, but Kim just rolls her eyes and starts making her way around the store. An off-the-shoulders olive green top catches her eye, and she pauses at the rack, considering it for a moment and thumbing through for her size. Beside her, Zack raises his eyebrows.

"Isn't it, like, illegal to not wear our colors?" he asks.

Kim scoffs. "Says who?"

Zack thinks for a second. "Um… huh." He glances down at his black shirt then blinks. "I don't know, I mean, don't you just _feel_ like wearing your color?"

"I think the world will be fine with it if I don't wear pink sometimes," she teases, taking a top off of the rack in her size, "Besides, I can't have my closet being _all_ pink. That'd be unfashionable."

"Yeah, but," Zack continues, still apparently stuck on the topic, "What about when you walk into a store? Like this one? Like, _look for something black_ automatically pops into my head. Or, I guess, white works, too."

"Mmm," Kim hums, "I just think _look for something cute,_ so, no." She goes over to the far wall and just stands there, glancing over the selection of tops hanging on the wall, waiting for something to stand out to her.

Zack pries the shirt out of her hands and looks at it, faking deep thought. "You know," he comments, "I know someone who's favorite color is green."

She snatches the top back and sticks her tongue out at him. "Shut up. That has nothing to do with the fact that I think I'd look cute in this."

"Are you sure you're not also considering if--"

"Don't finish that sentence." Spotting a black and white, striped, front-tied top that she wants, Kim frowns, realizing that it's hanging on the wall a little out of her reach, and briefly considers her options. Either way, Zack's going to make fun of her because she knows she'd do the same… not that he'd ever have a problem reaching something. So, she steps closer to the wall and glances through the dangling tags of each shirt to find her size. Once she's found it, Kim leans up on the tips of her toes, trying to grab at the hanger.

Behind her, Zack predictably laughs. "Need a hand?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Die."

Zack comes up behind her and chuckles. "I could lift you."

"Don't you dare--" Kim sighs as he just reaches up and grabs the top. Makes it look so easy.

When Kim holds out her hand for the hanger, he keeps it at an arm's length away from her and smirks. "What do you say when your boyfriend does something nice for you?"

"Thank for being a decent human being," Kim grumbles, "And thanks for having long, gangly arms."

He gasps as he hands her the shirt. "Excuse _me?_ My arms aren't long and gangly. Have you seen them?"

She has. They're definitely not, but she smirks back at him and walks off in search of more clothes to try on. When she's done and Zack has grabbed a shirt or two at her insistence because she'd feel like a nuisance just trying on clothes herself, they sneak into a fitting room together because the store's fairly empty, meaning that none of the employees are really paying attention to who's coming in and out of the fitting rooms.

There isn't a chair inside, so they just hang up their clothes and Zack leans against the wall. "Ladies first," he offers, pulling his phone out and pointedly looking at it instead of her.

Kim chuckles and shakes her head. "Oh, come on, it's not like this isn't anything you've already seen before."

Zack shrugs. "I'm being _polite._ "

"I know," she murmurs, leaning up to give him a kiss, "It's sweet."

Kim _had_ actually ended up taking two pink things into the fitting room with her -- a striped, short-sleeved button-up and a Tommy Jeans sweatshirt. She tries the first one on now, taking her shirt off and glancing in the mirror to see that Zack's turned his back to her. "Maybe you _are_ a gentleman," she says, teasingly, as she slips into the button-up and leaves it unbuttoned. It's not really her style, and, honestly, she'd only gotten it to see how it looked on her with no intention of actually buying it. Which she _does_ look good in it. But still not her style.

"You can turn around now," Kim says to Zack, turning to face him.

He does so and raises his eyebrows. "I think you missed a step there," he comments, chuckling.

"I didn't," Kim states and pulls him into a kiss, her forward momentum sending him stumbling. His back hits the locked door, and Kim hums low in her throat, feeling that thrum in her veins from earlier pick up again.

One hand still on his shirt, Kim runs her other hand through Zack's hair, deepening the kiss. She catches his bottom lip between her teeth and gently grazes, chuckling when he breathes, "Shit." Zack's hands drift up to her waist -- his phone is still in his right hand, pressing against her hip bone -- and she thinks he's about to pull her closer and hopes he doesn't drop his phone, but then, he pushes against her, and she's forced backward, their kiss breaking.

Bewildered, Kim stares at him, the rush in her bones dulling to a disappointed ache. "What?"

Zack catches his breath and holds his hands up. "Stop," he says, quietly, "I know what you're doing."

Kim blinks. She hadn't even known she was _doing_ anything. Besides, well, leading up to what should've been making out in a fitting room. "And… what am I doing exactly?"

"You're--" He gestures, vaguely, with his phone to the room around them. "You're coping. Badly."

Kim laughs, loudly, in disbelief. "What? That's-- that's ridiculous."

"Kim," Zack says, firmly, "How are you?"

It's a probing question, she knows, and she frowns, getting irritated that he's making shit up. "I feel fine," she answers, clenching her jaw.

"Are you sure?"

"Of _course,_ I'm sure!" It's her turn to gesture at the fitting room. "If I wasn't, would I be leaving my room? Going train surfing? Going to the mall?"

Zack pauses. "I mean… you don't have to lay in bed all day and cry to be hurting."

"I'm _fine,_ " she mutters, going back to her shirts hanging up and switching the button-up for the green top.

Zack looks at the ground while she changes. "Look," he murmurs, "I just wanna make sure you're okay. After this morning--"

Kim pulls the top over her head and adjusts it off of her shoulders. It's cute, but she can't focus on it right now. "After this morning what?" she asks, expectantly, whirling around to look at Zack.

"You-- your parents--"

She doesn't let him finish. " _Why_ do you want me to not be okay, Zack?" Kim snaps, "I don't have to turn into a fucking mess every time it comes back up that my parents are getting divorced!"

He swallows, briefly glancing away from the anger in her eyes. "I _do_ want you to be okay, Kim. But… the fact that you're _not_ a 'fucking mess'-- I-I think you _are_ hurting, but you're just… going about it a different way. A wrong way."

"There's worse ways I could go about it," Kim says, coldly.

"I-- Yeah, I guess." Zack sighs and goes back to leaning against the wall. "I just care about you," he says, quietly.

Kim lets a long, tense silence pass as she takes off the green top and tries on the striped one. "You didn’t say no to us skipping school," she says, "or train surfing."

Zack sighs and runs a hand through his hair, trying to fix it from how she’d messed it up just a few moments before. She steps aside to let him look in the mirror but avoids catching his gaze. "I… didn’t know," he says, "I had a feeling, I guess, but I didn’t _know_ until just now."

Changing again, Kim tries on the pink sweatshirt. It’s comfy. She wraps her arms around herself and faces Zack. "I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. And… I’m sorry I just came onto you like that. And snapping at you."

"Kim," he sighs, "I’m not-- I forgive you." He gives her a small smile. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

He pulls her into a hug and presses a kiss to her forehead. "Just promise me you won’t make terrible decisions to cope."

At that, Kim snorts into his shirt and pulls back to give him an incredulous look. "Uh, you know _you’re_ saying _that_ to _me,_ right?"

Zack nods his head as if to say that’s fair. "Alright, well, then, how about you tell me before you decide to do something impulsive to cope and we’ll go over if it’s absolutely terrible or not?"

"Mmm, sounds fair."

He squints at her. "You have that look like you already have an idea coming to mind."

"I… wanna get another piercing," she draws out.

"Oh, my God, Kim."

"There’s a parlor out on the strip! We passed it on our way in."

"Oh, my God, _Kim,_ " Zack repeats.

"Come on," she says, "Who jumped a ravine on a whim and who said, ‘Whoa, Zack, wait’, hm?"

"Uh, who ran over to the house of the girl she likes and just kissed her without thinking about it?" he counters.

"Who kept trying to break the glass we found at the mine when _clearly_ you don’t touch weird things you find in places you shouldn’t be?"

Zack snorts and throws up his hands. "Uhhh, you just _said_ it yourself -- all of us were trespassing, so we’re even. Plus, we’re superheroes now _because_ I was curious, so you’re _welcome,_ Kimothy."

"Zack--" She blanks on what to warp his name into.

He raises his eyebrows. "Not so easy being a witty genius like me, now, is it?"

"Oh, shut up." She gets changed back into her own shirt and stands aside so that Zack can try on his. He’d grabbed two plain and simple t-shirts from the Adidas and Calvin Klein sections and steps up into the mirror to change into them. Kim pulls out her phone to give him the same privacy he’d given her. There’s no new texts in any of her group chats, so she just clicks through some Snap stories, chuckling when she sees that Jason posted a blank Snap with the caption _hell yeah i’m getting cheddar bay biscuits today!!!_ "Hope it was worth it," she mutters to herself.

Kim looks up to see that Zack’s already moved onto the second shirt and is checking himself out in the mirror. "You like ‘em?" she asks, coming up beside him and slipping under his arm. He gives her shoulder a gentle squeeze.

"Yeah, they’re chill, but, like, hella overpriced."

" _Hella?_ " Kim raises her eyebrows. "Where are we, San Angeles?"

Zack rolls his eyes. "Shut _up._ "

She casually fidgets with the sleeve of his shirt then fishes the price tag out of his collar. "I could get it for you," she murmurs.

"Kim, _no,_ " Zack protests, "You can buy your own clothes."

"I _am_ still gonna buy my own clothes -- like _that_ was gonna change. But, let me get you something." She pouts at him, sweetly.

He rolls his eyes. "Getting someone something is usually, like, some jewelry or flowers or a game or book they like. Not brand name white people clothes that are overpriced because capitalism sucks."

She chuckles and pats him on the chest. "Why don’t you tell me more about how much you hate capitalism while I spoil you?"

He blinks at her.

"If I told you spoiling my boyfriend was a coping mechanism of mine, would you believe me?"

"Hardly. Well, maybe."

Kim grins. "It’s not _unhealthy._ "

Zack points a finger at her. "It’s not _as_ unhealthy, but your bank account is crying."

"My bank account hasn’t cried since… I don’t remember. Probably when I fixed my car after a fender bender, like, last year."

"Are you _sure?_ "

"I get an allowance."

"Oh, of course, you do. I don’t know why that’s surprising." Zack looks at her. "From your dad or your mom? Because one answer’s funnier and whiter than the other."

"Both," Kim answers, laughing.

Zack whistles. "That’s wild."

"I’m getting you these shirts, Zack."

"You sure are not."

 

* * *

 

She sure does, despite all of his protests. Zack insists on holding their bags since Kim paid for the both of them then lets her lead him to the elevators because she says she needs to see someone on the third level. The elevator, predictably, takes forever to arrive like it always does. Zack momentarily pauses as the elevator doors slide open and Tommie and Emily are already in there.

"Fancy running into you guys here," Kim jokes as they go in.

Zack just nods at them and reaches to push the button for the third level then pulls his hand back when he sees it’s already lit up. Crossing his arms, he quietly settles into the corner.

"PacSun?" Tommie asks, chuckling.

Even though he’s the one holding the bags, Zack doesn’t want to take the credit so he motions at Kim. "All her idea."

"And what about it?" Kim questions, challengingly.

Tommie just shakes her head, a teasing smile on her face. "What’d you get?"

Zack ducks his head and smirks to himself, remembering how he’d teased Kim for her Tommy Jeans sweatshirt as she was checking out.

She definitely notices but ignores him. "Just a couple of shirts for both of us and a sweatshirt," Kim answers then asks, nodding at the Barnes & Noble bag in Tommie’s hand, "How ‘bout you?"

"Just a journal I needed," Tommie says, pulling it out and flashing the _Star Wars_ cover.

"You didn’t _need_ it," Emily mutters, "You’ve got plenty of empty ones at home."

"Listen, I’ll feel better about it if I say I needed it, okay? Let me live."

The four of them arrive on the third level and Tommie immediately walks off toward GameStop, waving them farewell.

"What’re you guys up here for?" Emily asks.

A moment passes before Kim realizes that Zack isn’t going to answer and says, "Oh, I just need to talk to a friend who’s working right now."

"Wild that you have other friends," Zack teases, and Kim rolls her eyes.

"Yeah, I kinda _have_ to. It’s how I stay sane."

Kim stops at a kiosk not too far down from GameStop that sells seashells and dreamcatchers and all sorts of car decorations. Zack briefly touches a blue shell that looks similar to the one hanging on Kim’s rearview mirror. Clearing her throat, Kim taps on the counter, getting the attention from the blonde employee on her phone. "Hey, Soph."

The blonde looks up, surprised to see Kim, understandably, takes her earbuds out, and glances at Zack and Emily. "Um, what are you--" She looks at the time on her phone. "Kim, you’re supposed to be in school right now."

Kim snorts, and Zack chuckles under his breath. "Uh, as if you’ve never skipped before."

"Oh, no, I don’t care about that, but Cory’s supposed to give you the VIP invite for tomorrow."

"For…?" Kim squints, confused.

"My… birthday party at Stripps?"

"Oh!" Kim presses her lips together in a way that tells Zack she clearly forgot somewhere between being a Power Ranger, going through a parental divorce, and having an older her walking around Angel Grove -- all of which is understandable. "Right, I totally… remembered that. I was just testing you."

On Kim’s other side, Emily snorts into her hand. "Sure sounds like it."

"I’ve told her, like, several times in the past month," the blonde says, exasperatedly, to Zack, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, I think I have an extra in my purse…" She reaches under the counter, rummaging through a purse that's hidden away out of sight, then straightens up and tosses a light purple wristband at Kim, who catches it easily and starts fiddling with the snap closure. Zack sees the name _Torres_ written on it in black Sharpie.

"I’ve been _busy,_ " Kim counters, "Anyway, um, Sophia, this is Zack and Emily; guys, this is Sophia, she’s Cory Torres’ older sister. We go to church together."

"Usually," Sophia corrects, "I’ve been busy these past couple of weekends. Exams and all that… fun stuff."

"I have no idea who that is," Zack says, "But, hey."

"I think I’ve seen you around the Overlook Trail," Emily responds, "Theatre kid Cory?"

Sophia chuckles. "Don’t call her that to her face, but yeah."

"What is, um, Stripps?" Zack questions. It doesn’t sound familiar, but then again, he hasn’t had much chance or desire to explore all of Angel Grove. Mostly, he’s just hung around the gold mine because places like downtown Angel Grove are too busy and full of higher end white people for his tastes.

Sophia briefly looks at Emily and Zack then shares a glance with Kim and only speaks when Kim nods.

"They're cool," Kim says to a question that Zack doesn’t hear Sophia ask out loud.

"It’s a gay club that opened up, uhhh, couple of months ago," Sophia answers, picking up her phone and pointing to one of the stickers she has on the back. In capital letters is the name Stripps, but the second P is set against the backdrop of the pride colors, making it almost look like an E. "Thursday nights are open to 20 and under."

Zack raises his eyebrows at Kim. "You’re going?"

"I forgot I was," Kim sheepishly admits, "But, uh, yeah."

"How old are you turning?" Emily asks Sophia.

"Big two-one," she replies with a wide grin, "And I got _no_ Friday classes!"

Kim chuckles, amused. "Who’s driving you back to AGCC?"

"Not Cory ‘cause our parents want her back home, like, super early, which is an--" Sophia puts a hand to her mouth, blows a raspberry into her palm, and points her free thumb down. "Absolute _bore._ "

"I can drive you," Kim offers, "I don’t have a curfew."

"Must be nice," Emily mutters.

Zack rolls his eyes.

"I actually dropped by to talk to you about something else," Kim says, slowly, "I wanted to ask about, um, some family stuff."

Zack and Sophia share a glance, but he doesn't know what it's about -- just that the air changed considerably the moment Kim said that.

"I'm, uh, gonna go see what Tommie's up to." Emily excuses herself, heading off to GameStop.

For the sake of Kim and Sophia's privacy, Zack is about to step away, too, before it gets too awkward for him to stand there in the middle of a conversation he shouldn't be in, but then, Kim puts a hand on his arm. "It's okay," she murmurs, quietly, "I want you to stay -- if you're okay with that." Pausing for a moment, Zack considers the situation. It's going to be a little odd, anyway, but if Kim wants him to stay, then he'll stay.

"Yeah, of course," he replies and gives her a short kiss on her forehead. Still, he scoots over a bit to lean against the counter in order to not take up all of Kim's personal space.

Sophia gives Kim her full attention. "What's up?"

"Um." Kim clears her throat before speaking, "I, um-- my parents are getting divorced." Zack remembers the bad shape she'd been in just last week when she had first told him and the others about the divorce, before they'd met Kimberly and Tommy that night, and Kim's tone now is different than before. Not colder, but more certain in a way -- she's said it more than once, now, and she must be getting used to it. Zack frowns to himself and pulls out his phone to scroll through social media, but his ears still pick up at the conversation.

"Oh, Kim," Sophia sighs, sadly, "I'm sorry." Zack briefly looks up when he hears a soft creaking sound and sees that Sophia has put up a little sign on the counter that says _Be back soon!_ and opened the gate closing her off inside the kiosk. Coming around the counter, she wraps her arms around Kim, whispering something in Kim's ear. It takes a second, but Kim eventually relaxes into the hug.

Zack averts his eyes, feeling like he's heavily intruding.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, really," Kim is saying when she pulls back from the hug, "I just-- can I ask how you and your sisters, you know, handled it? Like… how was it?"

Sophia hesitates. "Well, I mean, it was… hard. I'm not gonna lie to you, Kim, I think -- for me, at least -- having Cory and Kenzie around, it was what helped me get through everything. That also put a shit ton of stress on my shoulders, too, though, 'cause Kenzie was still a kid and she didn't get it, you know? She got in trouble a lot at school 'cause she figured that the attention would make our parents get back together, and a lot of the time, _I_ was the one dealing with that aftermath, instead, so." She sighs. "I can't tell you how it's gonna be for you. Like, I kinda had a feeling that the divorce was a long time coming, I just didn't know when it was gonna happen."

Absently, Zack pats his pockets for his earbuds, wondering if it'd be too obviously uncomfortable for him to pull them out and use them, not that he thinks that Kim or Sophia would really notice, anyway.

"Yeah, I didn't know this was coming," Kim mutters, quietly. Zack wouldn't have even heard it if he didn't have superhuman hearing. "Well, I mean, after the stuff with, um, you know, Amanda Clark and all that, they started fighting more, but I just figured it was just fighting… Like, I didn't think it'd take them, like, only a few weeks to end up at _divorce._ "

"Here, I think I've got some tissues in my purse--" Sophia starts, but Kim stops her.

"No, it's fine," she sniffles, softly, "I'm good."

Sophia goes back behind the counter, anyway, and returns with a small pack of tissues that she offers to Kim, who murmurs her thanks. "I know it seems sudden and maybe your first instinct is to think that they're making the wrong decision -- I know that's what ran through my head for awhile -- and I don't… I really don't have an answer for that. Maybe it's the right choice, maybe it's not, but that's not a choice we can make for our parents, you know? This is just something we have to go through."

"How was church after?" Kim asks, wiping at her eyes with a tissue, and at that point, Zack does pull out his earbuds and plugs them into his phone, leaving one out in case Kim says something to him. Just in case.

Sophia shrugs. "They didn't talk for a long time and sat on opposite sides of the room, I'm sure you remember some of that. But, I mean, now they sit with me, Cory, and Kenzie again, so it's all good. Better than it used to be."

Kim scoffs, a bitter sound. Something in Zack's stomach twists, and he bites down on the inside of his cheek, reserving a hug that he wants to give her for later in his head. "Doubt it's gonna be like that for awhile," Kim mutters under her breath, but Zack can hear it, anyway, which means Sophia can, too. "Thanks for the help, Soph," she continues as Zack catches sight of Tommie and Emily coming out of GameStop and heading their way, "I'll text you later about tomorrow, yeah?"

"Yeah, of course, looking forward to it." Sophia gives Kim a hug then waves a quick goodbye to Zack, Tommie, and Emily before going back to running her kiosk.

Kim only spares a brief glance at Zack as they rejoin the others, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt. She doesn't say anything, but he gets the message that the conversation he just half-- well, fully witnessed isn't something she wants to talk about right now. That goes without saying, really, and he hadn't been thinking of asking her about it at this moment, either. Kim rubs at her eyes a bit, bundles up the tissues in her hands and shoves them into her back pocket, and asks him, "How do I look?"

Her eyes are kinda red, but it's nothing that automatically would make him think she's been crying if he hadn't already seen it. "Beautiful," Zack tells her, and she rolls her eyes and shakes her head.

When Tommie and Emily approach, Kim nods at the new bag in Tommie's hand. "What'd you get?"

"Nothing," Tommie answers, tucking the bag under her jacket when Emily tilts her head to try and look at it. "She's not allowed to see," Tommie explains when Kim raises her eyebrows, "It's a present. Jewish New Year is this weekend."

"Rosh… um," Kim starts then trails off, "I know it starts with an H and ends with an H."

Emily chuckles. "Hashanah. You tried." She turns to Tommie and protests, but Tommie shushes her. "I already said you didn't have to get me anything--"

"It's too late, already did it," Tommie replies, holding a hand right up to Emily's face; Emily rolls her eyes.

"Everyone done here?" Zack asks.

"Pretty much," Emily answers, "You got somewhere to be?"

When he doesn’t answer right away, Kim taps him on the shoulder. "Zack."

"Huh?"

"Emily asked you a question."

"Oh, uh, sorry, what? I zoned out for a sec."

Emily stares at him for a moment before repeating, "Where’re you headed next?"

"Kim," he says, looking at her for confirmation, "wants to get a piercing."

Tommie coughs into her fist. "Can I be the first to say that’s a bad idea?"

"Too late," Zack responds, "I already told her, but she won’t listen to me."

"That’s ‘cause you’re coming _with_ me," Kim says, taking his hand and dragging him back toward the elevators.

"I have the right to restate this isn’t a good idea," Zack comments, but Kim rolls her eyes and elbows him in a silent way that he knows means she’s not buying his fake resistance. They _did_ technically meet while trespassing and almost dying in a train crash, anyway.

"I have the right to ignore your opinion," Kim replies, cheekily.

 

* * *

 

They’ve hardly passed by the GameStop when Emily acts on what’s been on her mind all day long. Half of the time, she’d been sure she was imagining the whole thing and that it’s just her overreacting or reading _too_ much into it, but the other half of the time, she’d been dead sure. So, she goes with her gut and taps Zack on the shoulder. As usual, she and Tommie had fallen behind Kim and Zack, so she does catch how he tenses just very slightly when he sees who tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey," Emily asks, "Can I talk to you for a second? Privately?"

Kim glances at Zack and lets go of his hand to let him walk off, but Zack surprises them both with his answer.

"No."

Emily raises her eyebrows. "Excuse me? No?"

"You heard me," he says, and Emily ignores the uncomfortable feeling in her stomach. Oh, this is going to be loads of fun.

" _Zack,_ " Kim whispers, lightly nudging him in the side, "Don’t be rude."

Tommie bristles by Emily’s side but doesn’t say anything. Emily shakes off the urge to look over and see how her sister is taking this in.

"Whatever you need to talk to me about, you can say it in front of Kim and Tommie, can’t you?" Zack asks, his eyes almost daring.

Emily clenches her jaw, a spike of irritation rising in her chest at his attitude -- he knows that she’s noticed, and now, he’s taunting her. Or mocking her. Whichever. It’s a good thing she’s above being scared of this petty bullshit. "I can, actually," she answers then looks Kim straight in the eye, "Your boyfriend’s been not only ignoring me the whole day, but also going out of his way to be stupidly petty toward me, and, while I don’t give a damn, I just wanna know why."

Well, she _knows_ why. It more of she wants him to admit it out loud.

Kim chuckles, a little nervously. "Zack hasn’t been ignoring you--"

"No, she’s right," Zack interrupts, still looking at Emily, "That’s exactly what I’ve been doing."

Kim swallows and pales a little bit. Emily slightly feels sorry for her, but it’s too late for either Kim or Tommie to really walk away now that this has started.

"The marker on the train, the smoke can," Emily lists off on her fingers, "And every time I asked you a question today, you either didn’t answer me right away or at all and let Kim answer. And, you know, at first I thought it was just me reading too into it, but we’ve all been hanging out for hours by now, and I think I’m going mad because it just _keeps_ coming _up,_ so now I’m asking you to just say it out loud for everyone to hear."

"Sounds like you already know why," Zack responds, flatly, showing no reaction to her accusations against him. Kim, on the other hand, has taken a step back and looks rather uncomfortably tense.

"Of course, I do," Emily says, calmly, "I know what my mum’s company just bought out and I don’t know exactly who lives there, but I can put two and two together."

"Yeah, you don’t even know who lives there because you don’t care," Zack says, flippantly, scoffing and shaking his head.

"It’s just how things are--" she starts, but he cuts her off to no surprise.

"Don’t give me that bullshit."

" _Zack,_ " Kim hisses, grabbing at his arm in a way that doesn’t quite look gentle in how Emily sees the skin under Kim’s fingertips reddening, "Cool it."

"What the hell is he on about?" Tommie finally asks in a low voice that clearly can still be heard by Kim and Zack but is meant for Emily.

Emily sighs and runs a hand through her hair. "River Renovations is buying out this trailer park--"

" _This trailer park_ has a name," Zack mutters, "And I’d like for you to use it."

"I’m sorry," she says, knowing he really doesn’t care if she says it or not, and continues, "They’re buying out Melody Mobile Home Park and putting up a new apartment complex in its place."

"Yeah," Zack confirms, "And they think that offering me compensation money for rent is going to just smooth everything over. Must be a normal thing for your family."

Emily bristles and narrows her eyes. "What’s that supposed to mean?"

"It means," he answers, taking a step closer to her; to her credit, Emily doesn’t budge even though her body naturally wants to step backwards, "that everyone who was in our same cell last night knows that your parents bribed that cop to bail us all out, and I think that’s some real rich bullshit on top of my issues with your mom."

Her first instinct is to fire back with the alternative of them all just sitting there and waiting for their own parents and getting into more massive amounts of trouble, but Emily bites back on voicing it aloud. It’s the moral principles that count, and for Zack, he clearly would’ve preferred the alternative over knowing that something under the table occurred to get him free.

"Is that true?" Tommie asks, quietly, "Did Edward and Rachel pay someone at the station to get you all out?"

Emily swallows and glances at her shoes, scuffing her sole on the carpet. "I didn’t see them do it, but yes."

Tommie is silent for a moment then walks away in the opposite direction without another word, and Emily lets out a frustrated sigh, running her hands over her face.

Zack doesn’t say anything else, either, and lets himself be tugged away by Kim. "Come on," Kim says to him, firmly, "You need to chill." And, to her, Kim apologizes under her breath, "I’m so sorry, Em."

Emily shakes her head. "It’s fine, really. It’s not your fault." She knows whose fault it is, and that’s just a burden she has to bear on her own.

Once Kim and Zack have walked away toward the elevators, Emily lets a few seconds pass before she glances over her shoulder to feel the eyes that’d been on her the whole time. From the kiosk they’d been standing at only minutes earlier, she sees Sophia mouth to her, _You okay?_

Sighing, she nods and signs her thanks back, touching her fingers to her lips and waving them forward.

 

* * *

 

"Can I repeat that this is a terrible idea?" Zack asks for the fourth time as he and Kim look at the sign of the shop reading Mighty Sharp Tattoo Parlor.

Kim shakes her head and laughs. "Nope."

They haven't talked about the argument he had with Emily in the mall since Kim had dragged him downstairs and out into the courtyard to the parlor first and foremost. Not that Zack's looking forward to eventually having to do that because he likes where he is with Kim right now -- happy or as happy as they can be while he knows that part of this is just Kim badly coping. Maybe he's badly coping with her badly coping by enabling her.

"Hey," a woman greets when they walk into the parlor; her name tag reads _Drae,_ "You guys need a moment to look around or nah?"

Zack glances at the walls, his eyes scanning various posters of tattoo designs. The parlor itself is pretty much empty, understandably, just like the rest of the mall on a Wednesday afternoon in the middle of a school day.

"We're good. We're here to get a piercing," Kim says, and Zack's glad that she's speaking because if it was up to him, he'd probably walk right back out the door. Like, alien spaceship? Cool. Power Rangers? Cool. Getting a piercing? Well, maybe. At least it's not a tattoo. He doesn't know if he could ever make a final decision on getting one of those, anyway. Probably take, like, ten years to decide on what to get.

"Yeah?" Drae asks, "Do you know what you want?"

"Mhm, navel for me, and, uh…" Kim puts her hand under Zack's chin and tilts his head toward her, examining his face. He just blinks and lets her do it. She purses her lips, deep in thought. "Left ear."

"Left ear?" he echoes.

"I think you'd look good," she says, smiling.

"I always look good," Zack replies then shrugs, "I'm fine with that."

 

* * *

 

Emily finds Tommie sitting on a bench out in the courtyard of shops at the entrance they came into the shopping centre from after spamming her with multiple texts of question marks. Holding her breath, she takes a seat next to her sister and waits for Tommie to speak first. She’s spent the past hour walking around before deciding what’s been an acceptable amount of time to let Tommie ruminate in her thoughts before talking to her again.

"Kim and Zack are in there," Tommie says, motioning to the parlour across the walkway to the Mighty Sharp Tattoo Parlor, "Saw them go in just as I was coming out here. I think Kim’s getting that piercing she was talking about earlier."

"Oh, uh, okay. Seems kinda… abrupt."

Tommie doesn’t say anything in response; it’s the kind of silence _as_ a response that Emily knows precedes something she won’t like. Her intuition has taught her many things -- many wrong things, but many things, nonetheless, one of which is what silence means. And it usually never means anything good.

Nervously, she clears her throat and pulls out her phone, checking her notifications. There’s a couple of texts that she’s avoiding answering from her teammates about her not being in class, one from Kim from half an hour ago saying where she’ll be in case Emily wants to wait outside, and then one from her mum that just says _I saw your Snapchat. And Tommie’s._

Well. Emily tucks her phone back into her pocket and says, "Mum knows we skipped."

"I know," Tommie replies, not looking at her even though Emily gives her a glance, "It’s whatever."

"Yeah?" Emily scoffs a little, "What makes you say that?"

"I mean, it’s a little hard to be strict parents when you break the law yourself," Tommie says, so casually and smoothly that it takes Emily a moment to process.

"What?"

"I’m gonna head inside. See what they’re up to." Tommie gets up from the bench, not giving Emily a response, and Emily scrambles to get in her way, holding her hands out.

"Wait, wait, _what_ did you just say?" Tommie’s body language is about as closed off as per, but there’s a difference with how she blankly and coldly stares at Emily in her path.

"You heard what I said."

" _Why_ would you say it?" Emily swallows, her chest tightening.

Tommie shoves her hands in her jacket pockets, the seriousness of the action disrupted by the fact that there’s a muffled crinkling of the shopping bag she has stuffed in there. "Because it’s true." She pauses then continues, firmer, "Because I have morals."

Emily sighs, feeling sick. She shakes her head. "I’m not saying it was right--"

"But it changes nothing for you," Tommie finishes for her.

"That’s _not_ what I was gonna say."

"Must be a family trait," Tommie mutters, not meeting her eyes, "Making things go away by sweeping them under the rug, right?"

Emily freezes, something cold passing through her; as much as she tries to fight it, she ends up shuddering. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Tommie shrugs it off, changes the subject. "Maybe the reason why it doesn't feel like I belong here is 'cause I don't know this family as well as I think I did."

"I-- You know _me,_ " she protests, her voice strained.

"Do I?" Tommie raises her eyebrows. "Before we could even get into the deep stuff, I find out that your parents are just the same as every other rich bitch in our neighborhood."

She hears the _your parents_ and takes a deep breath, the impact hitting her like a punch in the gut. "Tommie," Emily tries again, "It's not that simple--" Because it isn't, but there isn't enough time to explain how complicated it is because Tommie ignores her and brushes right past her, knocking their shoulders together.

"I don't care," Tommie says, "I'm leaving."

Her skin burning where sleeve had made contact with Tommie's jacket, Emily sighs, heavily, and runs a hand over her face, glancing at her sister's back as she walks into the parlour and disappears.

 

* * *

 

The mall is still sparsely populated when Emily slips into the ladies' restroom on the third level, going straight for one of the sinks. She turns the water onto its hottest and scrubs at her hands, breathing a little strained through her nose. The heat is soothing against her skin for a few seconds and then the water reaches scalding hot temperatures, and Emily yanks her hands away, sighing and shutting the faucet off.

She tenses, startled, when a toilet flushes and one of the stalls at the end creaks open. The girl from earlier, Kim's friend, Sophia, walks out and thoroughly washes her hands then rips a paper towel out of the machine. It quietly whirs in the background, dispensing another towel.

"Here," Sophia abruptly says, handing Emily the towel in her hands, "You okay? I saw that… fight with your friends."

"Um, thanks." Emily takes the towel and wipes her hands dry, slightly taken aback by the interaction, then balls the towel up and throws it in the trash can. "Not my friends," she replies, "Not really."

She leaves without another word, letting the door close behind her. Her phone buzzes in her pocket, and Emily sighs, pulling it out.

_[TO 1:59 PM] Kim and Zack are done._

Emily's chest tightens when she realizes that Tommie's texting style is off because she's still mad. Swallowing through a dry throat, she tucks her phone back into her pocket and heads for the lift again.

 

* * *

 

The car is dead silent as the four of them leave the mall, punctuated only by Kim's car speakers playing her music from her phone and, occasionally, her cursing at some asshole who doesn't use their blinker on the road. Emily quietly asks for her and Tommie to be dropped off at their house, so that's where Kim goes next. Shortly after they're on the road, Jason drops a text in the group chat about his biscuits, so Zack grabs Kim's phone and replies for her that he'll get them at the campfire -- which Jason expresses his disappointment at in a series of eyerolling emojis.

And, after that, back to silence.

Zack just leans his head against the car window, heavily resisting the urge to touch his faintly aching ear, and waits and waits and waits until Kim pulls up to the Jordans' house. Emily and Tommie get out then grab their things from the trunk. He rolls his eyes a little bit when Kim doesn't immediately drive away but waits until the sisters unlock their front door and disappear inside.

Kim puts the car back into drive and sighs, loudly, letting Zack know that she's about to say something.

He braces himself, not looking at her.

"I didn't know you had such a problem with Emily," she says, curtly.

"Look, just because she’s _your_ friend doesn’t mean I have to be completely okay with her--"

Kim taps the steering wheel, irritatedly. "What’s wrong with you? Who _raised_ you? Even if you don’t like her, you don’t just pull a scene like that!"

Zack scoffs and leans back in his seat. "Excuse me. My _mom_ raised me. At least she’s always around."

He doesn’t see the brake coming and coughs when his seatbelt yanks into his shoulder and the car screeches to a halt. Thankfully, there’s nobody behind them in the neighborhood road. Not that he thinks Kim would’ve cared.

Kim switches the car into park and turns on her hazard lights. "What the hell did you just say?"

A long moment of silence passes where Zack just stares at the airbag paneling in front of him, an odd feeling spreading through his body, dread that presses down on his chest. It's like a blanket, but instead of being warm, he just feels suffocated by the weight.

"What the hell did you _say,_ Zack?" Kim repeats.

Oh, it's not him. It's her.

"I'm sorry," he starts, glancing at her, but stops when he sees that she's rubbing at her eyes. He lets a few seconds pass then tries again. "Kim, I-- I'm sorry, I don't know why I said that--"

"You said it because you thought it," she mutters, bitterly, "Because it's true."

"That doesn't mean I should've said it, though," Zack murmurs, letting his head thump against his headrest, "I don't know what got into me."

Kim sighs and puts the car back into drive, shaking her head. "Let's just go home."

 

* * *

 

Rita is already leaning against the bathroom wall, waiting, when Tommie goes into her own bathroom and locks the door. She turns around but, unlike previous times, doesn't flinch at seeing Rita standing there. Progress.

Tommie goes over to the sink and opens the mirror to grab a bottle from the medicine cabinet behind it; she shakes a pill out, dry swallows it, and puts the bottle back. "Enjoying the show?" Tommie asks, vaguely, but Rita knows what she's referring to.

"You're doing better than I expected," Rita says, flatly, careful to keep any actual praise out of her voice. The bare minimum, however successful, shouldn't be rewarded.

"They're easier to manipulate than I expected," Tommie replies, shrugging, "It didn't take much to just… take the _feelings_ they had just underneath the surface. Turn them into something worse."

Rita nods. A simple task, but soon, after tonight, Tommie's powers will continue to grow even better. "Your way in is the Pink Ranger," she comments.

Tommie gives her a quick glance, almost as if she's bothered that Rita thinks she hadn't already thought of it. In response, Rita taps the green power coin sitting in its cradle on her scepter. It buzzes, hauntingly, but Tommie doesn't flinch, only shaking her head. "I already knew that," Tommie says, fixing her hair in the mirror, "She's the weakest link… I can't wait."

"We don't want to play our hand too early."

"No, of course not." Tommie nods. "Apex first. Then, the Rangers."

Rita turns her head at the sound of the other girl, the sister, calling Tommie's name from her own bedroom.

"That's your cue to go," Tommie says, slightly bowing in Rita's direction before she goes to unlock the bathroom door, "See you soon, empress."

 

* * *

 

Emily's fist hovers over Tommie's bedroom door, and she's about to knock when the door swings wide open and Tommie blinks at her.

"What?"

"Uh." Emily swallows, dropping her hand to her side. "I just wanted to, um, say I'm sorry."

Tommie raises her eyebrows. "For what?"

"I--" Emily pauses. Huh. "I don't… I don't know. Just for today, I guess? I don't know, it was kinda a hot mess, and just… a lot of that was my fault."

"You mean you wanna take responsibility for it because, last I checked, you didn't _make_ Zack get angry and petty," Tommie comments, crossing her arms.

Emily shakes her head. "It's still my fault somehow," she murmurs.

"Hey." Tommie nudges her on the shoulder. "Look, it's fine. I mean, it's not… fine, but I get that you can't control what you can't control. Apology accepted."

She should breathe out a sigh of relief, but it still doesn't feel right to. "Yeah, well, you said you didn't know me and I-- I don't know, we can talk now, if you want? Before Mum and Dad get home and all hell breaks loose."

Tommie sighs and glances behind her at her bed. "I'd say sure, but I was really looking forward to taking a nap."

"We… can do that, too. And talk later."

"Yeah, talk later." With that, Tommie takes off her jacket and drapes it over the back of her desk chair then flops down into bed, groaning into her pillow.

"You aren't gonna change?" Emily lays down next to her, careful to not lay on her injured elbow, having already changed into her pyjamas since it's a highly unlikely chance that her parents will let her go to karate today when she's already skipped everything else today.

"Sleeping in my jeans builds character," Tommie mumbles.

"What character?"

Tommie reaches over and blindly fumbles to hit her. Emily smacks her hand away, and Tommie groans, getting up to find clothes to take a nap in. "It builds _strength,_ " Tommie explains as she rummages through her dresser, "And courage."

"Uh-huh. Is that why you screamed and threw your laptop across the room that one time you saw a roach in your room?"

"Okay, _listen,_ " Tommie starts, holding up a stern finger; Emily laughs and ducks the shirt Tommie flings at her head, "You talk big for someone who did shit to help me. And I didn't throw it _across_ the room, I just dropped it on my bed and ran."

"I _promise_ you that if I wasn't, you know, here, I would've helped you. Promise."

"You didn't reach through the screen to kill it for me, and I'll remember that."

"Oh, shut up."

 

* * *

 

When the evening rolls around, Kimberly parks Tommy's Jeep -- it's practically their Jeep at this point, but she still somewhat doesn't consider it hers because, well, it's not _theirs_ theirs -- at the curb, a few houses down from Trini's and pulls her phone out of her pocket, shooting off a text.

_[KO 5:26 PM] Hey, I'm here. Down the street._

The response comes immediately.

_[T 5:26 PM] ur 4 minutes early_

_[KO 5:26 PM] Take your time. I don't mind waiting._

_[T 5:26 PM] makin me feel guilty smh_

"Hey."

Kimberly nearly jumps out of her seat -- her seatbelt holds her firmly in place, thankfully -- as Trini's voice startles her, popping up out of nowhere. Her phone slips out of her hands and clatters to the floor next to her feet.

"Jesus _fucking_ Christ," she hisses, narrowing her eyes at Trini, who only cracks a small, smug smile, "Could you _not_ do that? Give me a warning next time."

Trini laughs, walking around to the passenger side, and hops in, buckling up. "Where's the fun in that, then?"

These kids are absolutely insufferable, Kimberly thinks.

The drive to the park is filled with silence, mostly, as Kimberly's become used to from Trini. They arrive before the sun starts to set, right on time, and Kimberly grabs the picnic basket from the backseat, fidgeting with her keys as she leaves the parking lot and follows the sidewalk trail deeper into the park, Trini following behind her.

She sets her stuff down in a clearing that's in good view of the setting sun and a good distance away from other park-goers and pulls out a blanket from the basket.

"Here, lemme help," Trini holds out her hands, and Kimberly obliges, handing her the other side of the blanket to lay out on the grass.

Two ham and cheese sandwich triangles, some potato chips, and a Capri Sun later, Kimberly breaks the silence with the only thing she can think to bring up that's not Ranger business, "So, you got any plans after graduation?"

"For _fuck's_ sake," Trini groans and takes a sip from her Capri Sun to stall for time, glaring daggers at Kimberly.

Yeah, she'd always hated it when people asked her about college way back when, too. Figures some things would never change.

Trini crumples her pouch when she's done, tossing it in the basket for trash, and frowns, "I've thought about college, I guess, but I don't know."

Kimberly waits, patiently, for the hesitation she knows will come because she's had the same thoughts before.

"What happens if we split up for college?" Trini muses, "Who's gonna protect the Zeo Crystal?"

"Someone'll come around," she responds, confidently, "It just always works out that way."

In her lifetime, she's learned not to question how things fall into place to fit the necessities of their lives as Rangers. Cosmic power, fate, God, whatever. It happens as it's needed to happen, and where one Ranger retires, another will take their place. Trini makes a noise of agreement, but it sounds reluctant; Kimberly lets it slide -- no use in dwelling on things in a future that they can't yet see.

She munches on a potato chip and arches an eyebrow at Trini, "Any places you're thinking about in particular?"

"AGCC," Trini responds, automatically, as if she'd had the answer ready, which she probably did.

"You don't have to stay close to home," Kimberly says, slowly, "I mean, if community college is what you want, then yeah, but like, I meant what I said. Someone'll come around. You don't have to be a Ranger forever; your life isn't tied down here."

A silence stretches as Trini doesn't speak. Kimberly just sits there and watches as the girl reaches into the picnic basket and pulls out another sandwich triangle, unwrapping it and taking a few thoughtful bites.

After Trini swallows and sets the rest of her sandwich down on her lap, she mutters, her jaw clenched, "Even if I _did_ know where I wanna go, I wouldn't know… what I wanna do. What I wanna major in."

Kimberly leans her elbow on her knee, propping her chin up in her hand, "There's nothing wrong with that. You can always go in undecided."

There isn't. She'd done it, after all.

Trini picks up her sandwich and finishes off the rest of it, her chewing significantly more tensed, irritated, possibly. When she's done, she balls up the plastic wrap in her fists, a set frown on her face.

"It'd be a hell of a conversation to have with my parents," Trini starts, her voice carrying a sharp edge that Kimberly's too wary to touch, "Going in undecided like that. My mom would have a fucking fit."

Kimberly can't personally relate, and she knows there's not much to say to something like that, either. Either parents change and eventually let go or they don't. She doesn't doubt that Trini knows that. Probably better than she does, even.

"Well, I can't change how your mom would react to that," she says, softly, tilting her head, "But I can tell you that your _real_ friends would love and accept you for who you are and the choices you make -- or don't choose to make."

Trini doesn't look at her, just stares at a spot on the blanket, and for a moment, Kimberly worries that she's overstepped the girl's emotional boundaries and bites on her lower lip in nervous anticipating.

Then, "Is that what we are? Friends?"

Kimberly's heart positively skips a beat inside her chest.

"Um, yeah," she nods, forcing herself to recover from her brain short-circuiting, "If you wanna be."

She's scared to say the wrong thing and put herself back into Trini's category of _people to not trust as far as they can be thrown._ And, considering Trini's superhuman strength, yeah.

Hesitantly, she offers her pinky forward -- a pact they'd made what feels like weeks ago, a promise that she knows she'll one day have to see break. Hopefully later instead of sooner.

Trini glances at her hand then links her pinky with Kimberly's, nodding once, her blank expression betraying nothing.

Her eyes soften, and for a brief second, Kimberly swears that she sees a ghost in front of her in those brown eyes. " _You're_ my real friend," Trini declares, quietly.

Kimberly swallows a stone down her throat and reaches for another sandwich in the basket, turning her face away so that Trini can’t see the guilt in her eyes.

 

* * *

 

A short while later, as they’re packing up the basket to get ready and head for the quarry, Kimberly almost bumps into Trini as she stands, pausing when the girl doesn’t move. "What’s wrong?" she asks.

"Don’t look," Trini murmurs, ducking her head, and Kimberly has to force herself not to immediately look in the direction Trini’s looking in, "But I think there’s someone watching us."

"Um, what makes you say that?" Kimberly readjusts her grip on the picnic basket. Already, her body is on guard; it’s a habit she can’t kick, walking into a room and immediately, instinctively finding the nearest exit with her eyes or seeking out what object can be used as an improvisational weapon.

"Blonde, black blazer, red tie," Trini answers, pulling her phone out of her pocket and pretending to look at it, "She was at school earlier. I ran into her in the hallway, she’s some kind of government agent. FBI -- or maybe Apex pretending to be FBI."

Kimberly uses the opportunity to glance around the park, and it’s easy to spot the woman Trini is talking about. She’s being subtle, but Kimberly knows how to recognize Rangers -- because that's what Lauren Shiba is. Lauren is sitting at a bench some ways away from their picnic spot, her back to them, reading a book, but Kimberly has a hunch that those sunglasses she’s wearing are hiding where her eyes are really drifting to. Not that they could truly disguise Lauren from her, anyway.

Breathing out a small sigh of relief, Kimberly shakes her head. "She’s not a threat. That’s a friend."

"Are you sure?" Trini asks, a little warily, "She had a gun."

She’s not sure why Lauren would have a gun because Lauren specifically doesn’t care for guns, but… "Yeah, I’m sure." Kimberly hands Trini the picnic basket and her keys. "Here, go back to the car, I’ll catch up in a few. Don’t leave without me."

Trini glances at Lauren then at Kimberly and takes the keys and basket. "No promises," she mutters, walking away in the direction of the parking lot.

Approaching Lauren’s bench from behind, Kimberly tries to be as quiet as she can, but she knows--

"There’s no sneaking up on a samurai," Lauren says, abruptly, not even turning around to look at her, "Especially not me."

"At least I can say I tried," Kimberly sighs then leans on the back of the bench. Lauren gives her a glance. "You came with Rocky?"

"Mhm."

"So, you’re the ‘surprise’ he was talking about."

"Yep."

"And he didn’t just tell us because…" Kimberly trails off for Lauren to finish.

"Because I asked him not to since I figured you would worry over me," Lauren says, simply, shrugging.

"I’ll worry over you, regardless." Kimberly pauses. "Do I wanna ask where Mia is?"

Lauren takes a moment to answer and that tells Kimberly everything she needs to know. "Nope." She takes her sunglasses off and tucks them into an inner pocket in her blazer. "I came to investigate that murder last night, but there’s something else going on."

"Something like…?" Kimberly prods.

"Apex, maybe," Lauren answers, "I’m not sure. I found a tattoo on the victim that could just be a regular tattoo, but the way one of the deputies reacted to it tells me that it’s not."

"The Rangers did say that… this Director Sheer who talked to them said she was going to be watching," Kimberly comments, slowly, " _But,_ if someone else targeted their agent--"

"Doesn’t mean they’re on our side. Or any side, for that matter."

"Well, I’m glad you’re covering it," Kimberly sighs, "I was getting a little worried about how Tommy and I could possibly handle the government breathing down our necks _and_ these kids."

"And the Green Ranger," Lauren adds, closing her book and faking a cough into her hand that’s meant to take a jab at Kimberly.

Kimberly frowns and takes a peek at Lauren’s book to see what she’s reading -- _The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe._ "There’s no Green Ranger," she murmurs.

"Yet."

"You’re not gonna tell them, are you?" she asks, hastily, her chest fluttering nervously.

Lauren stares at her, her eyes unreadable behind the dark tint of her sunglasses, but Kimberly imagines that there’s something cold and sharp as steel in those green eyes that she can’t see. "Not unless they ask," Lauren says, finally, and Kimberly lets out the smallest of sighs of relief, still slightly uncomfortable, "And that’s assuming I see any of them, anyway."

"About that -- I was going to invite you to a campfire the kids have tonight. Trini’s already seen you twice, anyway."

"Hm," Lauren hums to herself, "I thought there was something different about her." Then, she lowers her sunglasses on the bridge of her nose and peers at Kimberly. "Covering your ass, aren’t you?"

Lauren’s tone sounds too parental and edging on disappointed for Kimberly’s tastes. Ironically. "You handle your FBI costume party, and we’ll handle our business," Kimberly mutters.

Shaking her head, Lauren scoffs. "It’s _all_ Ranger business, one in the same, Kim. We’re a family."

 

* * *

 

Trini doesn’t ask Kimberly about the blonde she’d seen when Kimberly comes back to the car alone, figuring Kimberly will either tell her willingly or doesn’t want to talk about it. Either way, she doesn’t care much. Tossing Kimberly the keys, she settles back into her seat.

"We’ll be a few minutes late to the campfire," Kimberly says, starting the engine and pulling out of the park, "But things’ll be a little different tonight."

Trini rests her arm on her passenger door and gazes at the remnants of the setting sun in the horizon, disappearing behind the Angel Grove skyline. "What d’you mean different?"

"That friend of mine you saw -- she’s in the city for awhile because of that murder last night. She thinks something’s going on, that the Sheriff’s Department isn’t as airtight as it should be." Kimberly adds, "And she wants to meet you guys."

Tensing, Trini shoots Kimberly a guarded glance. "She knows about us?"

"Relax," Kimberly chuckles, not taking her eyes off of the road, "She’s a Ranger, too."

"Huh. Didn’t know federal agents were Power Rangers."

"She’s not a federal agent," Kimberly replies, "Just a cover."

"Right. What’s her name?"

"I can’t spoil _all_ the surprises for you, now, can I?"

Trini grumbles and crosses her arms. "Guess not."

 

* * *

 

Sophia is gathering her stuff for the day when she spots the guy who starts after her, Brady, already heading her way from the elevators. He's walking with his brother, the deputy, and veers off, motioning to her at the restroom then disappearing. Sophia checks her watch and sighs. Cheeky kid, she's still got a few minutes left off her shift.

The deputy keeps walking up to her kiosk, though, and leans his elbow on the display case.

"Deputy Larsen," she greets with a nod, "Dropping Brady off?"

"Garrett," he reminds her, "Yeah, he's lost his driving privileges for awhile."

She chuckles and pretends to inspect her nails. "Got in trouble for that party, huh? I heard about it."

Garrett rolls his eyes. "Yeah, well… something I wanted to talk to you about."

Instinctively, Sophia reaches up and rubs at the skin on the back of her neck. She can't feel the imprint of the small, invisible chevron, but she knows it's there. "Go ahead," she murmurs, glancing around. Brady still hasn't returned from the restroom yet.

Garrett taps the display case, feigning interest in some of the car ornaments inside. "There's two new Rangers in town," he says, quietly, "One of them is pretending to help me with the 'investigation'."

Sophia tenses. "Two? That makes the count ten. That's a lot of Rangers to be in one place…"

"Eleven," Garrett corrects, "If you're superstitious."

And superstition is why they're here in the first place -- them being her and Garrett and the Rangers alike.

"I'm calling the rest of the team tonight. We need to regroup," Garrett says, straightening up as he sees Brady leave the restroom, "You'll know when."

Sophia nods as she grabs her purse and comes out from behind the counter, murmuring as she brushes by him, "I'll be ready."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Legacy of Power now has a [tumblr blog](https://legacyofpower.tumblr.com/) and a [world anvil wiki](https://www.worldanvil.com/w/legacy-of-power-hearden)! the wiki is nowhere near done so if you wanna keep up with it, make sure to follow it and/or follow the tumblr because i'll be posting update notifcations when i finish writing articles.
> 
> [image refs for the clothes kim and zack tried on lol: [kim's pink "tommy jeans" sweater](https://78.media.tumblr.com/6f8979718c5cbd45bab1f5ceb1ac1c83/tumblr_pbxte6PEG41wovlu7o5_400.png), [green top](https://78.media.tumblr.com/996d5d3f2c839c75c9018058042d372a/tumblr_pbxte6PEG41wovlu7o4_400.png), [striped top](https://78.media.tumblr.com/3b15b923beff13425280d052774fdd53/tumblr_pbxte6PEG41wovlu7o3_400.png), [pink button-up](https://78.media.tumblr.com/a365a8167793818e5d06f3b5929f6d3e/tumblr_pbxte6PEG41wovlu7o6_400.png) (that she didn't buy); [zack's adidas shirt](https://78.media.tumblr.com/3f7960eb5d07460a7e6581727578c011/tumblr_pbxte6PEG41wovlu7o2_400.png), [calvin klein shirt](https://78.media.tumblr.com/1b41d59ad1b8f714fde721775723bf9a/tumblr_pbxte6PEG41wovlu7o1_400.png)]


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